The_Book_Of_The_RevelationH=5=H=5=BOOKMOBI55 D#D3DCDSDcDsDDD D D D D DDDD#D3DCDSDcDsDDDDDDDDDD D!#D"3D#CD$SD%cD&sD'D(D)D*D+D,D-D.D/D0D1#D23D3CD4SD5cD6sD7D8D9D:D;D<D=D>D?D@DA#DB3DCCDDSDEcDFsDGDHDIDJDKDLDMDNDODPDQ#DR3DSCDTSDUcDVsDWDXDYDZD[D\D]D^D_D`Da#Db3DcCDdSDecDfsDgDhDiDjDkDlDmDnDoDpDq#Dr3DsCDtSDucDvsDwDxDyDzD{D|D}D~DDD#D3DCDSDcDsDDDDDDDDD D D #D 3D CD SD cD sD D D D D D D D D D D #D 3D CD SD cD sD D D D D D D D D D D #D 3D CD SD cD sD D D D D D D D D D D #D 3D CD SD cD sD D D D D D D D D D D #D 3D CD SD cD sD D D D D D D D DDD#D3DCDSDcDsDDDDDDDDDDD#D3DCDSDcDsDDDDDDDDDDD#D3DCDSDcDsDDD D D D D DDDD#D3DCDSDcDsDDDDDDDDDD D!#D"3D#CD$SD%cD&sD'D(D)D*D+D,D-D.D/d0#1y2y3z4 /MOBI7000R132EXTH<,. @The Book Of The Revelation

The Book Of The Revelation

"Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow"

with Pastor David Legge

Compiled and Transcribed by Andrew Watkins

David Legge studied at the Irish Baptist College, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He served as Assistant Pastor at Portadown Baptist Church before receiving a call to the pastorate of the Iron Hall Evangelical Church. He now serves as pastor-teacher of the Iron Hall, and resides in Belfast with his wife Barbara, daughter Lydia and son Noah.

Chapter 1: Introduction To Revelation

Chapter 2: The Greeting To The Seven Churches

Chapter 3: The Vision Of The Glorified Lord

Chapter 4: Ephesus, The Loveless Church

Chapter 5: Smyrna, The Persecuted Church

Chapter 6: Pergamos, The Compromising Church

Chapter 7: Thyatira, The Corrupt Church

Chapter 8: Sardis, The Dead Church

Chapter 9: Philadelphia, The Faithful Church

Chapter 10: Philadelphia, The Faithful Church

Chapter 11: The Throne Of God

Chapter 12: The Lamb And The Scroll

Chapter 13: The Seven Seals

Chapter 14: The Seven Trumpets

Chapter 15: The Seven Key Characters

Chapter 16: The Seven Bowl Judgements

Chapter 17: The Seven Dooms On Babylon

Chapter 18: The Return Of Jesus Christ

Chapter 19: The Millennial Reign Of Christ

Chapter 20: The Seven New Things

The audio for this series is available free of charge either on our website (www.preachtheword.com) or by request from info@preachtheword.com

All material by Pastor Legge is copyrighted. However, these materials may be freely copied and distributed unaltered for the purpose of study and teaching, so long as they are made available to others free of charge, and the copyright is included. These materials may not, in any manner, be sold or used to solicit "donations" from others, nor may they be included in anything you intend to copyright, sell, or offer for a fee. This copyright is exercised to keep these materials freely available to all.

The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 1

" Introduction To Revelation"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Now turn with me to Revelation and chapter 1, and I think we'll read the first 9 verses - although we'll only really be looking at the first three tonight, and not in much detail. Tonight will really serve as an introduction to this book of 22 chapters, and there really is enough information in each verse to keep us there a week a verse - but we can't do that! But it will be slower to start with, and then hopefully we might be able, as we go through this series, to deal maybe with a chapter a night, at least on some occasions. But we'll start slow, so that we lay a good foundation that will help us in understanding the rest of this book in the weeks that lie ahead.

So let's begin at verse 1 of chapter 1, through to verse 8: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty".

Now, the first thing we want to deal with tonight is the title of this book. Like most of the Biblical books, we have within the first verse the title. Now, it depends what version of the Bible you're reading tonight, but most of you, I'm sure, will have the Authorised Version, and the title given in it, or most editions of the Authorised, is incorrect. It says that it is 'The Revelation of John', it is not the Revelation of John. It is, as you see from verse 1, 'The Revelation of Jesus Christ'. Now that is very important. Now it could mean 'the Revelation about Jesus Christ', or it could mean 'the Revelation that came from Jesus Christ'. In my opinion it could be both, and the first is correct, that this is 'the Revelation about Jesus Christ' - and if this last book of the Bible is about anything, it's about the Son of God.

Now the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, revealed the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ - and it's important to understand that: that the four Gospels were fulfilling prophetic Scriptures in the Old Testament. But prophetic Scriptures in the Old Testament are often seen to be quite jumbled up concerning the first coming of the Lord Jesus into this world to Bethlehem, to be the humble Servant of the Lord, to go to the cross and die for sins, rise again the third day, and ascend unto heaven - that's what they encapsulate, the humiliation and condescension of the Lord Jesus. Yet so many other Old Testament Scriptures speak of how Messiah would come as a King, would set up an earthly kingdom, and would rule with a reign of righteousness. So this book is a revelation of Jesus Christ, not in the sense that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John revealed Him, but rather than the humiliated Christ, we have in Revelation an unveiling for us of the exalted and glorified Jesus Christ. All the events of this book centre around visions and symbols of the resurrected Christ, who alone has authority to judge the earth, eventually to remake the earth, and then to rule over the earth in righteousness. So many people get caught up with the intricate details concerning future events, that they miss the point that the Lord Jesus Christ is the chief subject of this book. If you miss Him, you've missed everything.

Now look with me very, very quickly at chapters 1 to 3 - we see Christ as the exalted Priest King in the midst of His churches. We will look at that in more detail in weeks to come - chapter 2 and chapter 3 in particular - Christ is in the midst, ministering to His church. Then if you look quickly at chapters 4 and 5, we see Christ as the glorified Lamb in the midst of the throne, Christ is in the midst reigning. Then chapters 6 through to 18, a few more chapters, we see Christ as the Lion in the midst of the nations of the world, Christ in the midst judging. Then in chapter 19 we see Christ as the conquering King of Kings, and Christ comes into the midst returning. In chapter 20 we see Christ as the Heavenly Bridegroom in the midst of the marriage supper, and Christ is in the midst of His people rejoicing with them and over His new-found bride and wife, the church. Then in chapter 21 and 22, the last two chapters of the book, Christ is the light in the midst of eternal glory, Christ in the midst of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, shining.

I hope you can see that it's all about Jesus Christ. Someone put it well: 'He is the arbiter of the destinies of the church and of the world'. Whatever we find in these Monday nights in the book of the Revelation, we better find Christ, because this is the revelation about Jesus Christ! As the line of that hymn says: 'Beyond the sacred page, I seek Thee Lord'. What have you come here for tonight? It's great to see you, but so many people are tantalised by prophecy. Sometimes I wonder, whilst I think we should be excited by it, is it at times the same excitement as a pagan has when they get someone to look into their tea leaves or a crystal ball? It's got to be more than that. I think of Charles Haddon Spurgeon's hymn, which was written, of course, in relation to the Lord's Supper, but it's so applicable to the second coming truth:

'If now with eyes defiled and dim,

We see the signs, but see not Him;

O may His love the scales displace,

And bid us see Him face to face'.

Don't get caught up with the signs of the times tonight and miss that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it's all about Him! It's His love that will cause the scales to displace from off our eyes, and we will see Him beyond the sacred page. If you think knowledge is the most important aspect to interpreting the book of the Revelation, you're wrong, it is love: love for the Lord, love for His word, love for His people. May I remind you in our introduction of 1 Corinthians 13:2: 'Though I have the gift of prophecy', Paul says, 'and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity', love, 'I am nothing'. Christ is the love of God to our hearts, let's not miss Him.

This is the Revelation about Jesus Christ, but the second understanding of this title, 'The Revelation that came from Jesus Christ', is equally authentic. If you look at verse 1, you will see that this revelation 'God gave unto him' - and that 'h' there of 'him', really should be a capital, because it's not speaking of John, it's speaking of Christ. God gave this revelation to Christ, 'to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent', God sent, 'and signified it by his angel unto his servant John'. Now follow with me the process here: God gave this revelation to Jesus Christ about His future, how He would be glorified, how the history of mankind would come to consummation in God's eternal plan. God sent that message by Christ, through an angel, to the apostle John. Now sometimes in the book John is spoken to by the Lord Jesus Himself, and other times an elder speaks to John. There are times we see a voice from heaven speaking to him, but the process of the delivery of this revelation was from God, given to Jesus Christ, sent by Christ by an angel to the apostle.

Now that's the title of the book: about Christ, from Christ. Let's look for a moment at the recipients of this revelation. Verse 1, right in the middle says 'to shew his servants things which must shortly', or quickly, or swiftly take place. Now right away that designates this book as being prophetic. It is speaking of things that as yet have not happened, but would come to pass. As we know from the last two chapters, chapter 21 and 22, that goes right until the eternal state, after Christ has returned, reigned for a thousand years, and set up an eternal Kingdom forever - so there's a lot of prophecy in this book.

Now let's look at the author, at the end of verse 1 he is designated as John. Now we believe that this is indeed John the apostle, the same John that wrote the 1st, 2nd and 3rd epistles of John, and of course the wonderful Gospel of John - four times within this book the writer identifies himself as John. Now some have cast doubt upon the fact that this is John the apostle, but the early church tradition was in unanimous agreement that this indeed was John the great apostle - who, of course, ministered many many years in the church of Ephesus, one of the churches of Asia which he writes to here. In verse 2 we read of John's circumstances as he authors the book, 'Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw'. In verse 9 he elaborate on his circumstances, 'I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ'.

John, the author, wrote this book from a vision he received on the Isle of Patmos, and the book was probably written in the late first century, around the 90s AD, which were the latter years of the reign of the Roman Emperor, Domitian. Now that's important, it's important as we'll see a little bit later, the message that this book conveys to these Christians and to ourselves today - to know that John himself was exiled as a persecuted Christian to the Isle of Patmos, and John, when on the Isle of Patmos, receives a vision to give and write to persecuted Christians in seven churches in Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey.

Titus Flavius Domitian, this Roman Emperor, reigned when the empire was making great bloodthirsty strides. By this stage they had touched parts of Germany and, believe it or not, Great Britain. Domitian demanded of every member of the empire that they should worship him as Lord and God, and if you refused to do it you were severely persecuted - and tradition tells us that Domitian sent John to the Isle of Patmos, and condemned him to work in mines on that island which was a Roman penal colony off the coast of Asia Minor in the Greek Aegean Sea. There is a map of it on the screen, and you may be able to see the Isle of Patmos there. I just wonder was that one of the reasons why we find the word 'sea' 26 times in the book of the Revelation? John saw an awful lot of it! There is another picture of it - quite idyllic looking, I don't think it was as nice for John, but there we have it: that's where he was.

Now in verse 3, I want you to note something else. We've seen the title, the recipient, the author, and this book begins with a benediction in verse 3: 'Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand'. Now this benediction is, I believe, the motivation for studying the book of the Revelation. Now I will talk a little bit later about my own motivation for beginning this series, but this is a book with a blessing - and indeed it is the only book that is designated in such a way in the whole Bible. I'm not saying the others aren't blessed, of course they are, and you will accrue a blessing through reading them! But this is the only book that begins with this pronounced blessing upon those who read it, hear it and obey it; and ends, incidentally, in chapter 22, with another blessing upon those who imbibe it.

Incidentally, there are seven 'beatitude', blessings pronounced in the book of the Revelation. We've just read the first in chapter 1 verse 3, turn with me to the rest. The second is found in chapter 14 verse 13, speaking of martyrs during the tribulation period here on the earth, in chapter 14 verse 13 John says: 'I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth' - those martyred for the cause of the Lord Jesus are blessed. Chapter 16 and verse 15, we read there: 'Behold, I come as a thief', Jesus says, 'Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame' - those who are faithful until the coming of the Lord Jesus are blessed. Then turn with me to chapter 19 and verse 9, the marriage supper of the Lamb when the Lord Jesus will be united with His church, 'He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb'. Then in chapter 20 and verse 6, we read: 'Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years' - those who rise when Christ raptures His church are blessed. Chapter 22 verse 7 Jesus, speaking of how He will come: 'Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book'. Chapter 22 and verse 14, the ending blessing: 'Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city'.

Seven, and you will encounter over these weeks the number seven and again and again - it is the number, biblically, of completion, of perfection and fulfilment. There is a complete blessing, chapter 1 verse 3 says, to those who read this book, who hear this book, and obey this book. Now I don't know about you, but I need a blessing! Am I the only one? Do you need a blessing? I think we all do! We need it every day! We need to count the blessings we have, surely, but we ought to be seeking more - so let's make these studies the blessings that they ought to be to us, that's what God wants, that's what I want, that's what you should desire - and make sure they don't become a curse!

Now please note in this verse 3, this benediction, it says: 'Blessed is he that readeth'. Now 'he', obviously, is in the singular. Now follow with me: 'Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy', now 'they' is in the plural. Now that's important: the 'he' is in the singular, and it insinuates that the person here who is reading is reading aloud. This isn't reading in your bedroom or in your study, and then the 'they' insinuates that the person reading aloud is listened to by a plural people. The hearing there is not in the physical sense, but in the responsive sense - that they are not just listening, but they are doers of the word - they are listening with responsive hearts of faith.

Now that is very significant, because the practice in the synagogue - we know this from Luke's gospel chapter 4 and other portions of Scripture in Acts - the practice was that there was someone got up, a man, and read the Scriptures, and everyone listened. They couldn't have Torahs, laws, for everybody to have, like you have Bibles this evening, so one read and the rest listened. It was the same, we believe, in the early church, in 1 Timothy 4 and verse 13 Paul told Timothy: 'Give attention to reading' - now that was the public reading of the scriptures in the assembly. They didn't have Bibles the way we have, a copy each.

Why am I telling you that? Because there has already been a tremendous blessing to me, as the one who is reading and expounding this book. I'm blessed, and I'm going to be further blessed over these weeks - but you should be blessed by listening, but oh to God that you would listen with responsive hearts, and then it could be said of you that you're not only blessed because you're reading too and you're listening, but you are doing, you are obeying this word. So this book is intended for public proclamation rather than a mere personal perusal, but it is intended to be kept - who of us will keep the sayings of this book? What a lesson! We could spend all night on this one alone: the most blessed will be the most obedient - that runs right through the whole of Christian experience. Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. May you know that blessing.

Then we see in this blessing at the end, we are to 'keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand'. Now the word for 'time' there in the original Greek that Revelation was written in, is the word for an 'epoch', or an era, a season of time in history. But he is saying that this time, this epoch is at hand. John is telling us that the great epoch, the next great epoch in God's redemptive history is imminent, it is at hand. Now the word 'imminent' is very important in Biblical prophecy, it means 'impending', something that is about to take place without delay. Now the word 'imminent' is different than 'immediate'. 'Immediate' is something that is going to happen there and then, but the second coming of the Lord Jesus, as it is portrayed within the whole of the Bible, tells us that we can expect it at any time - and yet 2000 years have passed and it still could be at any moment, because it is at hand, it's imminent not immediate.

Now whatever persuasion you are prophetically and theologically when it comes to prophecy, surely you have to agree that the coming of the Lord is at hand? I can almost hear the footfall, the hymn says, on the threshold of the door. Now, let me challenge you before I go on any further: there may be those among us who are not Christians, have never been born again; there may be those who are cold in their faith, backsliders; even believers need to study this book to get blessed, and it is my prayer that in the subsequent weeks you will be able to say:

'I am waiting for the coming

Of the Christ who died for me,

O His words have thrilled my spirit,

'I will come again for thee'.

I can almost hear the footfall,

On the threshold of the door,

And my heart, my heart is longing

To be with Him evermore'.

Is it? Will you be with Him evermore? Well, let's move on. For an introduction I want to give you four points tonight. The first is: my motivation for studying this book. The second is: the mystery that is often perceived in this book. The third is: the methods of interpreting this book. The fourth is: the message of the book.

My motivation for studying this book, if I can be personal for a moment or two. A number of people for some time have encouraged me to take on this subject, but that was never enough for me! Of course we need the leading of God in all these things, but during the summer recess I had occasion to be at one Bible Conference in our land, and heard of another one where the amillennial interpretation of Bible prophecy was advocated. If you don't understand what that means, just let it go by, you will by the end of the meeting. My problem was not with people holding this, I respect those who hold it, and some of you here tonight hold it. But this was delivered to what was essentially, in the right sense, an ecumenical gathering where people from different denominations were, and different theological persuasions - it was delivered as a standard, and what seemed to come across as the most credible interpretation of biblical prophecy. Now that disturbed me, and the more I thought about it, it was obvious to me that these speakers - good men and godly men that they were - obviously assumed that it was safe to teach this without being challenged. I wondered why that was, and I came to the conclusion that the reason is: prophetic truth of the pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus that we will be expounding throughout this series has largely been lost to the church of the United Kingdom. So I felt compelled, and indeed stirred up, to present what we believe to be the only biblically credible interpretation of prophecy in this exposition of the book of the Revelation.

Now, that said, let me add a caveat to it: it is essential to distinguish in Christian doctrine fundamentals, fundamental issues, from issues that are important but not fundamental. Now listen carefully to this, because this will stand you in good stead for a lot of doctrinal disputes: it's important to distinguish between fundamental issues and important issues that are not fundamental. Now what do I mean by that? Well, what I mean is: the fundamental non-negotiable truth in prophecy is, Jesus is coming again! Anyone who denies that has denied a fundamental, and has put themselves beyond the pale of Christianity. You've got to understand that. But though that is the fundamental, how we understand prophetic scripture, and how Jesus will return again, is not a fundamental - and that's why we need much grace and love when we deal with a subject like this. There's much heat rather than light when it comes to prophetic preaching and teaching these days.

But though it is not a fundamental, let it be said that it is important. You see, there are fundamental issues, there are important but not fundamental issues, and then there are nonessentials which really aren't that important - but the teaching of prophetic truth and how we understand it is not a non-essential, it is something that is important because it has ramifications in other directions, not least how you interpret the Bible in many places. So what we are saying tonight is: we need much grace and love, because whether we are of a particular prophetic persuasion, though it is not all-important, it is important. That's why I'm stirred to teach it, and it's also the reason why many shy away from it.

So my second point is the mystery that is perceived in the book, some people are afraid of the book of Revelation because they just feel: 'I cannot understand it'. Often because they feel they cannot understand it, they believe that no one could. Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Ireland, once said that to him the former Soviet Union was, I quote, 'A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma' - and to many people that's what the book of the Revelation is like! Joseph Scallinger was a 16th century critic, and he complimented the reformer John Calvin by saying, I quote, 'He has shown his sense as much by not commenting on the book of the Revelation, as he had by the manner in which he had commented on the other books of the Bible'. Often - and I have to echo this at times - there is a defeatist attitude when we come to this book. Now it has to be said that no one has all the answers concerning this book. We cannot be dogmatic on many things that we find within this book. But that being said, we must face, all of us, whatever our prophetic persuasion, the fact that this is the only book in 66 books of the Bible that is called 'a Revelation' - the opposite of a dark concealment! It is revealed!

'Apocalypsis', which is the Greek word for 'Revelation', unfortunately today has become synonymous with chaos and catastrophe - and a lot of films haven't helped that - but it literally means 'an unveiling', 'a disclosure', 'a revealing'. Now we find this type of Biblical literature in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, Ezekiel and Zechariah; and the only New Testament book that is apocalyptic is the book of the Revelation. Now when Daniel finished instructing in his apocalyptic book, in chapter 12 of Daniel and verse 4 we read: 'But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end'. He was told to close the book, conceal it; yet when we come to this book of Revelation, chapter 22 if you look at it and verse 10, John is told after having been given all these visions: 'Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand'. Why the difference? Both are apocalyptic literature, Daniel was told in the Old Testament 'Conceal it', John is told in the New Testament 'Reveal it'. Well, the answer is very simple: Calvary, Jesus died for sinners; the Messiah of God, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, the King of Israel - He was buried, three days later He rose again, He ascended into heaven forty days later, ten days later He sent the Holy Spirit into this world. All of these events, these New Testament gospel events, ushered in what the Bible calls 'the last days'.

We read in Hebrews 1:1-2: 'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds'. He is told in chapter 22 and verse 10, John that is, to reveal this apocalypse because the time is at hand. Now the total significance of this message, though we cannot understand absolutely everything contained within it, we must say tonight upon the authority of God's word that the total significance and focal message of this apocalypse is plain to the ordinary man and woman, it has to be if God's word is true. So don't be mystified by it all, whilst there's difficult things in it, don't be put off - you could put that phone off maybe! - don't be put off by the mystery that is in this book!

Now, the reason for the misunderstanding of the book is probably due to my third point: the methods, the various different methods of interpretation that are applied to it. Here are four - now if you don't have a notebook and pen with you tonight, you need to get one because you'll never remember all these things, or get the CD or tape and study these things again. There are four basic approaches to the book of the Revelation. The first is called the preterist school or approach. Really the preterist, which means 'past', he interprets Revelation as having already been fulfilled in the first century AD in the events after AD 70, which was after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the scattering of the Jews. They say it symbolises and records the struggle of the Christian church with the Roman Empire of the day, and now that is all past, it's all fulfilled - that's what the preterist says.

Now the strength of that particular approach is that it makes the book meaningful to the recipients who received this letter, it meant something to them. But the weaknesses are obvious, because although it might have meant something to them, it doesn't mean anything to us, it becomes meaningless to subsequent readers, and also there are many parts of it that are left unfulfilled. What it does is it robs the book of the Revelation of its prophetic nature and it becomes merely historical, and we know that it is a prophecy, as we've seen already.

Then secondly there is the historicist school. The historicists really believe that the book comprises the unfolding of Church history until the second coming of Christ. Now the strength of that view is that it makes it relevant to subsequent ages, and it has a meaning to other generations other than the generation to which it was written. It has to be said there are many parallels between truths in the book of the Revelation and things that have happened in Church history. The weakness of the historicist view is that though it becomes relevant to us, it becomes therefore irrelevant to the original readers, because they would have needed to have an extensive knowledge of history which hadn't happened yet, and even subsequent readers need to be au fait with history. Though there are parallels, it has to be said that the interpretation of this book by historicists is often in the light of Western European church history, it forgets the rest of the world - and there's a great divergence of opinion regarding what these symbols represent, and what historical characters they represent, among historicists.

The third interpretation of this book is given by the idealists, or the topicists, or topical interpreters. The idealists believe that this book is symbolising an eternal conflict between good and evil in the universe - it's not meant to be taken literally. Now the strength of that view is that there is a conflict going on between good and evil, rather God and Satan, and that would have been relevant to the recipients of this book, as it is relevant to us today. But the weakness of the idealists view is that it betrays the prophetic nature of this book, it also denies the correspondence between this book of Revelation and all the other prophetic Scriptures in the Old and New Testament, it doesn't harmonise them. So these passages in Revelation, they have to be seen as prophecy rather than mere principles - it's a prophetic book.

There's the preterists, everything is past; there's the historicists, this is Church history up to the second coming of Jesus; there is the idealist, it's just the principles rather than prophecy - then there is the futurist. They believe that this book depicts mainly the end times from chapter 4 right through to the end. Now the weakness of that particular approach is that often there are many way out interpretations among futurists, and I would have to say that often they do not seek what was the initial message to the recipients of the book - and if you miss that, you will misinterpret the rest of the apocalypse. I think highly speculative ideas, and even fictional works, though they have popularised the futurist position in recent years, have turned many Christians against it unnecessarily I would say. Please be careful: criticising the claims of certain futurists is very different from disproving the interpretation in general.

I am a futurist unapologetically, and I believe that from chapter 4 on we have what God is still going to do - but let it be said that I do believe there is certain merit in these three other interpretations. I agree with Sidlow Baxter who was a futurist, when he said: 'Thus my futurism can find some accommodation for all these other three, though none of them can possibly allow a place for my futurism'. Now maybe that's over your heads, but some of you will get it. What I'm saying is: there's no doubt that some of the descriptions of the second coming were foreshadowed in AD 70 for these early Christians, but it was not the complete fulfilment as we clearly see from the book of the Revelation. The historicist speaks to us of Church history, and there is no doubt that there are parallels for many of these passages. The idealist looks at principles that are right throughout in the symbols, and there's no doubt that they are there. But let us not rob the book of its essential prophetic nature: it's telling us about some things that are going to happen!

Now here are the reasons why we must look at this book from a futurist perspective. One: the futurist interpretation is the only scheme where the literal, grammatical, historical rule of interpretation is intact. Let me take time for this: literal, if it says what it says, that's what it means; grammatical, whatever it literally says in the Greek language, that's what it means; historical, whatever it says in the historical context and culture - pulling those three together, that is the rule of sound interpretation right throughout the whole Bible, and here as well. If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.

Now that is not espousing a wooden literalness when we come to the Bible. It's not a denial of the symbolism of the book of Revelation, but it is an acknowledgement that these signs and symbols in Revelation represent actual biblically interpretable realities. They are symbols and signs, yes, but they represent real things, literal things that are going to happen. If you have a working knowledge, particularly of the Old Testament, you will be able to interpret the majority of the symbols in this book, if not all. It's the only consistent method of interpreting the book of Revelation.

The second reason for futurism is that it's the only view that harmonises the Old Testament and New Testament prophetical passages. Now, while there have been partial fulfilments of some Old Testament prophecies, and there have been foreshadowings of many of those prophecies, it is only the future events of the book of the Revelation that will bring them to completion - and there we see them coming to consummation and conclusion. The third reason for a futurist approach is that it fits the chronological outline that John himself gives us in chapter 1 and verse 19. The Lord tells him: 'Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which are to come'. Now that simply says, as an outline - if you look at the screen, you'll maybe not see too much of it - but you will see there in that first column at the very beginning the things that you have seen, and he's speaking of the vision of Jesus Christ, that we will look at probably next week. The things which he has seen, the vision of Christ; the things which are - and when he speaks of the things which are in this next column, he's talking about the seven churches of Asia Minor that he deals with in chapter 2 and chapter 3, they were existent in his day. The things which are to come are the events that chapter 4 of Revelation right through to the end of the book speak of, things that are future: the tribulation period, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven key figures, the seven vials or bowls, and then we find the Lord coming and setting up His earthly kingdom and reigning for a thousand years, and then the eternal state and so on.

So John gives us that outline: the things that you have seen; the things which are, the churches; and the things which are yet to be. Let me give you a classic example of the significance of how your method of interpretation relates to your understanding of this book. Turn with me to chapter 20, this is a passage of Scripture that talks about Christ reigning for a thousand years on the earth, it's the famous millennium passage. Now the amillennialist school, if you look up at the screen, they spiritualise this passage and tell us that the first resurrection here is spiritual conversion. They say that the millennium, the thousand years, is a symbol of the church age, the period that we are now living in, which is also the tribulation - we're going through tribulation now, but we're also going through the reign of Christ in our lives, and then Christ will come and return and take us effectively into the eternal state.

Now what they, in effect, do if they spiritualise the book of the Revelation, and they spiritualise other Old Testament prophecies - I don't have time to go into it, but historically speaking what you're doing is using the Alexandrian interpretation that was later adopted, after Origen and other church fathers, by Augustine. It filtered its way into Roman Catholicism, and then eventually into Reformed theology, and it's still with us today in amillennialism. If you want to know more about that get a CD or tape that I did a few years ago on 'Crucial Questions On Christ's Return - Part 1', 'A, Post, or Pre Millennialism - Does It Matter?'.

You can see the danger of spiritualising and not taking this book literally. Then there is post-millennialism, again they see, as amillennialism, the first resurrection as a spiritual conversion, they see the church age and the millennium running together, but they believe that the preaching of the gospel and an improvement in humanity in general, like evolution but in a religious sense, will usher in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal state. They do the same as amillennialism, they spiritualise, but they actually invert the biblical order, because the Bible says things will get worse and worse and the Lord Jesus will come and He, at His coming, will usher in a better age in the millennial reign.

Then there is pre-millennialism, which is the futurist approach. It reads as the Bible is written, and as prophecy is written. It harmonises the prophecies in the Bible together, Old and New Testament, and it keeps the biblical distinctions that we have within the Bible, God's prophetic plan of history is not only for the church but it is for Israel, it is for the Gentiles and it is for the church. It keeps the biblical distinctions and yet marries together prophetic scripture in perfect harmony.

Now, finally, if you'll bear with me for five minutes: the message of the book. H.B. Sweet says this, and it is profound, and I want to spend a bit of time on it: 'In form this is an epistle', never forget that, this is a letter to seven churches that was circulated around Asia Minor. 'In form it is an epistle containing an apocalyptic prophecy', apocalyptic meaning, it's full of signs and symbols that are revealing something, it's a prophecy, it's pointing to the future. 'But', he says, 'in spirit and inner purpose it is pastoral'. Warren Weirsbe puts it well, who is a pre-millennialist and a futurist, he says this: 'Do not get lost in the details, but try to see the big picture and keep in mind that John wrote this book to encourage believers who were going through persecution. Every generation of Christians has had its antichrist and Babylon, and the hope of the Lord's return has kept those saints going when the going was tough'. Now, yes, it is speaking of the future - hope for tomorrow - but that hope for tomorrow is meant to give you strength for today. It has an application for today: it was a book that wasn't originally given to these early saints to satisfy their curiosity about the future, it was given to them pastorally to comfort them, to give them hope for the days that lay ahead. Remember what we said: it was written by John, a persecuted Christian; it was written to the churches of Asia Minor, persecuted churches; and it was written for the purposes of encouraging and exhorting them, by reassuring them of this central fact - don't miss it - Jesus Christ controls the course and the climax of history! The course and climax of history is in His control!

That's why I chose the title 'Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow', because our present difficulties, your difficulties now, have a connection with the future. The central message of this book is clear: God is in control of history, Christ is coming back and He will come in judgement, rewarding those who have remained faithful to Him. Irrespective of what interpretation you have, or what method you use, the central idea on which we all should agree is: Christ will return some time in the future, and that will be a welcome sight to His people, will it not? Warren Weirsbe puts it well: 'We are not the planning committee for the second advent, but we are the welcoming committee'. Our hope and prayer is, as John's, 'Even so, come Lord Jesus'.

Can I finish with this story that I think ties together these two aspects: strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, the fact that this book points us to the future but roots us in spiritual principles in the present. It's from the persecuted church in China, it's a conversation that was overheard by an author between an American pastor and a Chinese church leader.

This is how it went, and I'll just read it as it is, the American pastor asked the Chinese leader: 'What book in the Bible is most precious to you?'. The Chinese pastor said: 'Well, probably the book of Revelation, because...', and the American pastor interrupted him, 'Because your suffering makes you long for the end of the world, and you're strengthened by the vision of how it will end with Christ's victory? Yes?'. The Chinese pastor: 'That too, but we don't just take Revelation to be a description of the way the world will end, we see it also as a description of the way the world is now'. 'I'm not understanding you', the American pastor said, 'Surely Revelation is a book that tells us how the world will end?'. He agreed, 'Yes it is, but I am telling you that it is also a description of the way the world is now. Suffering has made this clear to us in China, clearly prosperity has hidden this from you in America'. 'You see', he went on, 'We had a Caesar here in China called Mao Tse Tung and he, like the Caesar of the early church period, demanded what was only God's - that he should be worshipped as a god. As in Revelation, he used a beast to coerce us, communism; and a false prophet to beguile us, false bishops. When we resisted this idolatry with the testimony of the Lamb, we were slaughtered and jailed. In this way we saw that Revelation is a description of spiritual warfare that always goes in any society, including yours'. The American pastor said, 'But it's not going on in America today - you say we have that hidden from us, what do you mean?'. 'Well', said the Chinese leader, 'this conflict is obvious to us in China. You could not miss that Mao Tse Tung was setting himself up as an idol and demanding worship, so the veil was removed and we saw the world as it really is - a place where idols are demanding our worship. But this is not obvious to you in America because it is more subtle'. The pastor from America said: 'Maybe it's not happening at all, we are a Christian country and we have a Christian president'. The Chinese pastor said: 'I tell you, there are Caesars or idols in your society just as much as in ours, and even in your churches - and there are false prophets telling you that the idolatry is biblical, and beasts coercing you. For example, your Caesar may not be a person but an idea. In our fellowship', he said, 'we have a clever young man who lived with an American family for a year whilst studying. The couple was generous, but he noticed something about them: they were always exhausted. Both worked incredibly hard, though they had plenty of money. They had three cars, two homes, expensive country club memberships - and, as far as he could tell, gave only a minimum to the Lord's work. They never asked him a single question about the Chinese church, and when he left they give him an envelope with $20 in it. He told us: I felt so sorry for them, they thought they were free but they were slaves. They were dropping from exhaustion because they had to live up to something called the American dream, but they never knew that the pursuit of that life had stolen their heart from Christ'. 'Hmmm', said the American pastor, 'If what you say is true, then consumerism could be a more effective killer of faith than communism'. The Chinese pastor said: 'You're right, and this is what we are afraid of here in China. Consumerism clutters up life so much that' - listen to this - 'we fail to see the world as it is: full of idols trying to steal our worship from God'.

Revelation is about the future, but do not miss its message for the present. It doesn't just describe the world as it will be, but that iniquity works already - it describes the world as it is! May we see that in the weeks that lie ahead of us.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - October 2007

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The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 2

" The Greeting To The Seven Churches"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Now do turn with me to Revelation chapter 1 please, and our title this evening is 'The Greeting to the Seven Churches', and we'll be looking at verses 1 to 8 of chapter 1, but we will read from verse 1 where we began last week.

Verse 1 of Revelation chapter 1: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty".

Now I said that I would not cover the ground that we touched upon last Monday night, save to recap a little. We looked at the title of this book, which is not as some editions of the Bible have it 'The Revelation of St John', but rather it is 'The Revelation of Jesus Christ' - it is about Him and it is from Him. Then after looking at the title we looked at the recipients of this book, verse 1 tells us that it was given to His servants, the servants of Christ, to show the things which must shortly come to pass. We also looked in a bit of detail at who the author of this book was, none other than the Apostle John - the same author of the fourth Gospel, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd epistles of John the beloved apostle who ministered many years in the city of Ephesus. Then we also looked at verse 3, and we witnessed the fact that this is a book with a benediction, and John pronounces a blessing upon those that read it - that is in the singular, the one who reads it publicly - those, plural, who hear it, and everyone who keeps the things that are written therein, for the time is at hand. The benediction that is upon this book, we saw, is also the motivation for us reading and studying it. We all need, we all - I hope - want a blessing from God, and there's a special blessing, I believe, in these last days for those who take note of the teaching of the book of Revelation.

We also mentioned the fact that many people approach this book with fear and trepidation. It's a bit mysterious to them, and that usually is because of several of the misunderstandings concerning this book that I believe are often derivative from false methods of interpretation that are applied to it. We looked at three false methods and one true method of interpreting this book. I'm not going to go into it tonight, get the recording. Then finally we looked at the message that this book holds, and I quoted a man by the name of H.B. Sweet, and I'll do it again because he very succinctly grasps the message of this book. He says: 'Revelation in form is an epistle', a letter, 'containing apocalyptic prophecy' - apocalyptic simply means something that is being unveiled and revealed, and characteristic to apocalyptic literature is the signifying through signs and symbols. It is prophecy, apocalyptic prophecy, through these signs and symbols there is a message about the future. Here's how he ends his quote: 'in spirit and in inner purpose this epistle, apocalyptic prophesy, is pastoral'. We must always remember that as we're going through this book: this book has a message to people in John's day who were suffering, persecuted for their faith - and, coincidentally, it has a message for us today, those of us who might well be suffering for our faith, or suffering indeed in any way.

Now this evening we're going to begin looking at the sender of this book, he's mentioned - the Authorised Version in verse 4 has his name in capitals, 'JOHN', and we'll not take time to look at his identity, we've done that already. John is the sender - who are his addressees? Well, verse 4 tells us: 'John to the seven churches which are in Asia'. Now, if you look at the screen you will see there is an old map of Asia, and of course Asia is not what we understand to be Asia today. Asia in the ancient Roman Empire was roundabout where modern Turkey is, and certainly the part that we are interested in was West Asia, that is Asia Minor, an imperial province of Rome.

Now if you look at verse 11 you have there designated the names of these seven churches, the second half of the verse tells us they were: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Let me say right away that there were most certainly more than seven churches in Asia Minor, we know that from the Scriptures. I'll give you two for instance: there was Colossae, the letter of Paul to the Colossians proves that; there was Miletus, as Acts chapter 20 shows us, and there were various other churches, we'll not take time to mention them. So the fact that John mentions seven, the Lord Jesus is inspiring him to do so, it's obvious that these seven in particular were representative of something that John wanted to communicate - and we will see that very clearly when we turn to chapters 2 and 3 and look at those seven churches in detail, but they are chosen for characteristics that the Lord Jesus wanted to highlight.

Now it's interesting when you note that Paul the apostle also wrote to seven churches - I'll let you work out what they were. Of course, he didn't write the same letter to them, and to some of them he wrote several letters, but it's interesting isn't it? Now if you were to look at verse 7 again, and then home in on this map, you would see that if you read verse 11 and then followed the map in the order that it is written, each church as John writes about it, you would roughly follow a journey on a circle, roughly now. Now that's interesting, let me show you another map just to make that clear - I know it's a strange looking circle, but the point that I think is being made is: John, right throughout this book has, as one of his major themes, completeness. There are seven churches here, and seven of course is the biblical number for perfection and completeness - I'm only posing the question: could it be that this circular movement as we travel round the seven churches as he has them in verse 11 also speaks of completeness?

Now, add to that the fact that in the vision that we will look at, God willing, next Monday evening in verses 12 and 13, the vision of the Son of Man, we read: 'I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands; And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle'. These seven lampstands are the seven churches - now, where is Christ in relation to them? He is in the midst of them, they are around Him. Now I know this is only a picture, but it tries to graphically bring to our minds that vision that John saw, and the relation to the churches - and I know the lampstands aren't correct in that picture, but it gives you the idea of the circular seven churches with the Lord in the midst.

Then we come to the salutation, if you look at it: 'John to the seven churches', here we have it, 'Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne'. Now of course this greeting, 'Grace and peace', corresponds to the customary greeting that often was in letters in this particular age, and also corresponds directly to how Paul addressed his letters, and how John also did in his second epistle. Now 'grace' was a Gentile, a Greek greeting. Of course we know in a Christian context, 'grace' means 'undeserved favour', the gift of God that we cannot earn nor merit - but grace is also something that we need to get through the Christian life, that is what we derive our strength from: the free gift of God.

The second greeting is 'peace', and if 'grace' was the Gentile greeting, 'peace', 'Shalom', is the Hebrew greeting. Right away we see that John is bringing together both Jew and Gentile in the church of Jesus Christ as he writes to these seven churches. Peace, shalom, speaks of the calm that we need along with grace to face suffering, sorrow, and even death for the cause of Christ. Now please remember the context of this book: it is being written to persecuted Christians who needed grace, who needed peace - and, praise God, even in the age in which we live tonight, those two commodities are the rightful claim of every child of God. If you're a Christian here tonight, do you know, in spite of what you're going through, that you can have the grace of God that Paul was told of, the grace of God that was sufficient for his need? The grace of God that can enable your weakness to display the strength of God, and glorify His name! Can you hear tonight what God's Spirit said to the apostle: 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness'? Now that is what these believers needed to hear. They also needed peace, and praise God we have Christ's peace! Philippians tells us to be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make our requests made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, transcends all understanding, will rule our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus our Lord.

This book, this letter is from a persecuted Christian, John on the Isle of Patmos for his faith in Christ; to persecuted churches, the seven churches in Asia Minor, with a message of hope, grace, peace! Isn't that wonderful? Now we might well ask: who has the authority and indeed the ability to give such a message to such people in such a predicament? Well, that leads us to the source, or if you like the signature of this letter. Look at verse 4, the grace and peace is 'from him which is, and which was, and which is to come', and we'll stop there. First of all we see that this peace is given by - and forgive this terminology, but you'll understand why I'm using it - the ghost writer of the book of Revelation, because though John is the penman, this message is coming from God Almighty. We saw that in verse 1, let me remind you of it, this is: 'The Revelation of Jesus Christ', about Jesus Christ, 'which God gave to Christ', and then we saw Christ gave it to an angel, that the angel might give it to John. This is a divine message!

Now I want you to know right at the beginning of our study this evening that we are going to encounter many Christian doctrines as we look at this portion of Scripture tonight, many fundamental and important truths from the word of God. Here's the first one: the great truth of the inspiration of holy Scripture. This message that we are reading, that is in our hands in the 21st-century, is the living Word of God. Listen to what 2 Peter chapter 1:21 says about divine inspiration, specifically it talks of prophecy: 'the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost'. Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:16 says: 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness'. The doctrine of the inspiration of holy Scripture. Now inspiration did not violate personhood - let me explain that. We can see that John the apostle was the man that wrote Revelation because the writing, though very different in places, is also similar to his three epistles and to his gospel. You can see his character and his personality in it - but God's inspiration used those characteristics, those personality traits, in order to get across what God wanted to say.

So we believe in what is called the plenary, verbal inspiration of holy Scripture. That means: plenary, every word of the verbal Scripture, that is every word of the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that were given to the authors of those books, are divinely inspired by God. Let us never lose that, for we are living in a day where in many places it has been lost. The ancient designation is given to the source of this letter, God is described as 'him which is, and which was, and which is to come'. Now there is a lesson for us: these Christians who were facing fiery trials from the Emperor Domitian, they were taking security in the One who was the source of this letter, that is the unchangeable God - the One who was, and is, and ever shall be the same. There is another doctrine: the doctrine of the immutability of God, the unchangeableness of the Almighty.

I want you to note one difference in this designation of God in verse 4 from the original ancient name for God. You see the original name goes like this: 'The One who was, and is, and ever shall be', that's not how John has it. He has it: 'The One who was, and is, and is to come'. I want you to note that, because right away we are seeing that John is emphasising the prophetic nature of this book. This God that is inspiring, who is the source and signature to this book, He's coming! He's not just the One who ever will be eternally in His nature, but He's coming, He's going to enter history again.

We see also hear another doctrine, the doctrine of prophecy. We saw it in verse 1, you will remember that this letter was to show Christ's servants things which must shortly come to pass, things which must shortly take place. Then in verse 3, the blessing is upon those who hear the words of this prophecy, this is prophetic literature. Then in verse 4, as we've seen, God is designated as the One who is to come, and also the same in verse 8. This is a prophetic book, don't let anybody tell you it's not.

Now we encounter in this ancient name for God another biblical doctrine, the doctrine of the triune Godhead, that is that we believe in one God, one substance, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We see here this triune Godhead displayed: the One who was, and is, and is to come - and then we have mentioned to us the seven Spirits, this letter is also from the seven Spirits which are before the throne. So we have the Father, and we have the Spirit. Now let's pause there and look at the Spirit for a moment. The Spirit is spoken of as being the seven Spirits, now you've got to realise right away that this is, as we've said, apocalyptic literature, and it's filled with symbolism. People get distressed at the Holy Spirit being spoken of as seven Spirits, and they try to explain it as being some other spiritual beings that are before the throne, and I don't think that's the case at all. This number seven, as we've already seen, is found I think over 50 times in this book of Revelation. It speaks of perfection, it speaks of completeness, and as it speaks of the Holy Spirit here, it's speaking of the fullness of completeness that is in the Spirit of God.

If you have a margin to your Bible, if it's a study Bible, it might even render the seven Spirits of God as 'the sevenfold Spirit of God'. Now, let me show you what I think this actually means when it says 'the seven Spirits of God'. Turn with me to Isaiah 11, verse 2 of Isaiah 11 reads like this, speaking of the One who was to come, that is Messiah in His first coming to earth, that's already happened, it says that: 'the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him', there is the first description of the Holy Spirit there, 'the spirit of the LORD', which is the name for Jehovah, so it is 'the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him', one; 'the spirit of wisdom', two; 'the spirit of understanding', three; 'the spirit of counsel', four; 'the spirit of might', five; 'the spirit of knowledge', six; and 'the spirit of the fear of the LORD', seven. It's speaking, I believe, of seven characteristics of the one Spirit of God. If you had time, and we don't tonight, you could go into Zechariah chapter 4 and see that the Holy Spirit is represented there as the seven branches of the Jewish menorah, the candlestick, the lampstand.

Now the seven Spirits of God in their completeness, in their perfection and fullness - look at their location - are found before the throne of God. Now that is significant, I believe, because anyone who is found before a throne, it speaks of the government of that particular throne going out from it. Here we have the Father, and here we have the Spirit, and the Spirit is acting governmentally on the earth on behalf of God, and He's doing it via the church - for it is the Spirit, along with the Father, who is sending out this message to the church. Now, do you want evidence for that? All you need to do is go home and read the Acts of the Apostles, because that could better perhaps be titled the 'Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles', the 'Acts of God via the Holy Spirit in the Apostles'. We see through the first 30 years of the church's infancy that the Holy Spirit was being manifest in governmental authority from the throne of God in the early church.

Now I'm tempted to ask the question: is the Holy Spirit governmentally working here in the church of our age, in our generation? Is He allowed to work? Or is it, as I fear, that men in their wisdom and their ingenuity have usurped the Holy Spirit's authority in their local assemblies?

Well, we must move on. We have seen God: the One who is, who was, and is to come. We have seen the seven Spirits, which of course is the Holy Spirit - and both God and the Holy Spirit, the Father and God the Spirit, have sent this message; and now we encounter another person in the Godhead. The only reason He is third in this instance is that there is going to be a long description of Him in the rest of this portion of Scripture. Verse 5: 'And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth', we'll stop there. Jesus Christ, this message comes from Him, and is about Him.

I remember when we had our gatherings over in the old building, that one evening after a Monday night meeting, or before it, or before Sunday or something, I lifted a little booklet that was pushed under the door about the book of the Revelation. The long and the short of it was, this author - who remained nameless, but I know who he is because sometimes he comes to this meeting - he actually propounded that the book of the Revelation was not inspired. His reasoning for doing that was, he said it portrays Christ as a mere man apart from God. He was implying that the book of Revelation is not trinitarian, and because it's not trinitarian it should be rejected. Now that man is not here tonight, but if he were - just in case any of you are thinking along the same lines - you need to read the fact that this book is not only a book with a blessing, it's a book with a curse. In Revelation 22, we read at the end of it: 'If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book'. It's bad enough to take something out of the book, but to take Revelation out of the Bible is an entirely different and more serious sin.

Now let me say that this is a falsehood, because Revelation - just like John's gospel - is one of the clearest representations and presentations of the doctrine of the Trinity. Sure, even the literary structure which is before us - just like right throughout the Bible - is, here in Revelation, triune: 'The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come'. There are more triune designations, 'Holy, Holy, Holy', the Trinity is right throughout the book. Now let me show you another trinity, though it is a three in relation to our Lord Jesus, in verse 5 and part b He is described as being 'the faithful witness'. He is the dependable witness - and I remember His words to Pilate in John's gospel 18:37, 'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth', that's why He came the first time. That's what He did faithfully, and in all of His doing of it, He never lacked courage, nor did He ever compromise - praise His holy name!

Then He is described secondly as 'the first begotten from the dead', or 'the firstborn of the dead' - now that doesn't mean that He was the first person raised to life again, because He wasn't, He raised three Himself. But He was the first to rise from, now mark this, the mass of men who had died, in order that He would die no more, now that's different. Lazarus was raised, he died again. The widow of Nain's son was raised, he died again. Jairus' daughter was raised, she died again - but Christ has risen to die no more in the power of an endless life!

So this speaks of another doctrine, the doctrine of the resurrection. He is the firstborn from among the dead ones. He is pre-eminent in His position of resurrection. Now, can I say just in passing that there is going to be a similar selective resurrection for the Christian, like Christ's resurrection. Philippians 3 and verse 11 tells us about it, Paul says: 'If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead', literally 'unto the resurrection out from among the dead'. So that teaches us, as we will see as we go through the book of the Revelation, that there is not going to be a general resurrection when the graves are opened and everybody just comes out at the one moment, there are several resurrections - and Christ, because He is the pre-eminent in position as the firstborn from among the dead, has led the way for all who believe in Him.

But it also speaks, the fact that Christ has risen, of the pre-eminent order of the resurrection. First Corinthians 15:20 says not that Christ is the firstborn from among the dead, but He is the firstfruits - that means that when the Jewish farmers were gathering in their harvest, they would take the firstfruits of the harvest and offer it up to God. Like a resurrection there's going to be harvest day, and Christ has been the firstfruits of that resurrection, and we will follow Him - isn't that wonderful - because He has risen first! As He said: 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believest thou this?'. My favourite hymn says:

'Soar we now where Christ has led,

Following our exalted Head.

Made like Him, like Him we rise,

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies'.

He is the firstborn from among the dead, pre-eminent in position, pre-eminent in order. The third description we have of Him here in verse 5 part b is He is described as the Ruler over the kings of the earth, that is the doctrine of divine sovereignty. Mark this well: how foolish it is to say that the doctrine of the Trinity is not in the book of the Revelation, this attribute of divine sovereignty is only attributed to God. In Daniel 2 and verses 20 and 21 we read: 'Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding'. That's the Old Testament record, the New Testament record gives the same, Romans 13:1: 'For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God'. Here we see Christ as the Ruler over the kings of the earth, don't tell me He's not God!

The faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth - how do you think that related to those suffering saints? Think about it for a moment: faithful witness, they needed an example of a faithful witness, didn't they? They needed courage, they needed not to compromise in the face of fiery persecution. The firstborn from among the dead - many of them were being martyred, sent to the stake, fed to the lions. They needed to know that this is not the end, but be faithful even to death. They needed to know, though Domitian was asking them to bow and acknowledge him as lord and god, that there was One who is the Christ of God who is far above all, over all the kings and emperors of the earth. It's wonderful, isn't it?

But I want you to see also in these three names of the Lord Jesus Christ that, first of all, faithful witness speaks of how He began this age. What am I talking about? Well, He came as the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell us, and He witnessed to God, He displayed Him. Then we see that He died, but He became the firstborn from the dead - He rose again! He ascended to heaven, and that's the present, that's where we are now. How is it all going to end? He's coming back as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Those are the three offices of the Lord Jesus Christ: the faithful witness, He is God's Prophet; the firstborn from the dead, He is a man in the glory at the right hand of God, a Mediator for us, a Great High Priest, Prophet Priest; and He's coming again as King, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Well in verse 5, at the very end, is it any wonder that John bursts into a doxology of praise? Can I just say that it's wonderful to have a spirit that naturally and spontaneously bursts into praise? We don't have too many like that these days! How could you not praise God after getting a glimpse of the One who was, and is, and is to come, of the seven Spirits before the throne, of the faithful witness, the firstborn from among dead ones, the ruler over the kings of the earth? He cries, look at it, 'Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood'. Why does he do that? Apart from the obvious, as I've stated. I think it is because he knows that this One who he has just seen and had described to him by the Holy Spirit is not an august and distant Deity who is administrating His rule passively without care or feeling, but this Christ is the One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His very own blood!

Now I know I say this all the time, and I'm probably going to get sued by whoever wrote the song, but I hate it: 'From a distance God is watching us...', He's not at a distance! He's at blood-nearness, flesh and blood. Incidentally, the tense here is not 'loved' in the past, it actually speaks of the present continuous action, 'He loves us'. He loves us, and 'washed' is in the past - completed work! He has loved us, but He does love us, but His washing of us is something that happened a long time ago! There is an order here, now mark it carefully, and this is precious: He loved us before He ever washed us - now that's mighty. Romans 5 and verse 8 says that it was 'while we were yet sinners', while we were still in our sin Christ died for us - add to that fact that He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and we were in Christ then.

The price that He paid was His own blood. Do you know what this letter is? It is a letter from a loving, life-giving Lord. Can I ask you tonight: is He your Lord? Is He your Saviour? Let me speak for a moment about His blood. Verse 5 tells us it washes, it cleanses us from our sin. Those stains that make you unworthy to come into the presence of a holy, righteous God in heaven, washed away by the blood of Christ. Chapter 7 and verse 14 says the same, and then we find in chapter 5 and verse 9 that this blood that Jesus shed on the cross, it redeems us, it has bought us back from the slave market of sin. Verse 11 of chapter 12 tells us that it is that same blood that washed us and redeemed us that causes us to overcome the devil. Do you need to be washed from your sins tonight, and have the assurance of salvation? There is only one way - water will not wash it, whether it is baptistic water, it'll not do anything - only the blood of Christ will wash it away. Do you want to be redeemed? Not redeemed by your tradition, or by your religion, or by money, you're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. You must trust in that blood. If you're a Christian and you're struggling with sin, you need to hear tonight that you've died with Christ, and His shed blood has allowed you to have His righteousness. You can overcome the devil himself by the blood of the Lamb and the power of your testimony.

We need, all of us, to be depending upon the blood of Christ. There's another doctrine - theologians call it 'soteriology', the doctrine of salvation. It's wonderful, isn't it? To save us at such a price was more than we ever deserved, but do you know what the mighty thing in this portion of Scripture is? That's not where God stops, for He doesn't just leave us saved, but verse 6 shows us - look at it: 'He hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father'. He has enrolled us in service. We have salvation, but now He calls us to serve, and not to serve an earthly sovereign but the Sovereign, the God of all heaven.

Imagine what this meant to these first Christians. They meant nothing in the present day world system of Rome, but they meant everything to God for they were the servants of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords - and that's what you are. Though they were the enemies of Imperial Rome, and we might be the enemies of our godless society today in a moral sense, if we are children of God we are members of a greater Kingdom - and your margin should read 'a kingdom of priests'. Verse 6: 'unto God and His Father' - by the way, there is the Trinity again - 'unto Jesus Christ's God and Father'.

Now here we have another doctrine in this phrase 'the kingdom of priests', because this is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. It's not heard often these days, and so I want you to turn with me - my time is always running away from me - to 1 Peter chapter 2, in verse 5 we read, Peter says to believers: 'Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices' - a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Now go down to verse 9: 'But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light'. Now keep your Bible open there. We have become a kingdom of priests through the Lord Jesus Christ, and Peter says in verse 5 that we're holy priests, he says in verse 9 that we're royal priests. Now the priesthood was something that was only available to Israel, and now he's talking to Gentiles here as well as Jews, and he's telling them that they are a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood. Now don't make the mistake of interpreting the church as taking the place of Israel, that's not what it's saying, there are many Scriptures that still have to be fulfilled in the nation of Israel - but what it is saying is that we who were not a people have become a people by the grace of God. Look at verse 5, as holy priests what do we do? We offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Now, what are those spiritual sacrifices? Well, Romans 12 verse 1 tells us to offer our bodies, we are to offer all our persons to the Lord Jesus. Have you done that? Everything you are and have, that's how you worship as a holy priest: give yourself to God. Hebrews 13 verse 16 says: 'Do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased'. We are to buy our possessions in giving to others, worship God in a holy sacrifice. Hebrews 13:15 says: 'Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually'. How do we offer our sacrifices as holy priests unto God? We give everything that we are, body, possessions and praise! Do we do that?

Verse 9 of 1 Peter 2 says that as royal priests there's something we do also, we 'shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light'. So if we operate as holy priests through worship, practical service, what Peter is saying here is that we operate as royal priests in witness. We tell others of the wonderful Saviour whom we have! Can I just say in passing that the priesthood is not the domain of professionals. There is no clergy/laity system in the word of God, for that matter there isn't any one-man ministry at all. We are all priests before God, men and women. As holy priests we worship, as royal priests we witness - and a priest is a person who speaks to God on behalf of men, and he's a man who speaks to men on behalf of God, and that's the two sides of this responsibility. As holy priests we go into the church, the assembly, to worship; and as royal priests we go out to witness. The problem is, because it has become a professional job for ministers and pastors and the rest, the saints of God have ceased doing it and decided, 'We'll pay somebody else to do it on our behalf' - that's unbiblical.

Do not sink beneath the dignity of your calling as a holy priest. The only conclusion that we can have is found in verse 6 at the end: 'to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen'. He alone is worthy! Look what He has done for us: saving us, calling us to serve Him. Glory speaks of His intrinsic value of who He is in Himself, the Lord Jesus. He deserves our honour, He deserves our worship and our praise. 'Glory and dominion' is His - dominion speaks of His essential attributes, that is: He ought to have our lives, He ought to have dominion in His church, and eventually He's going to control the whole universe.

That will become manifest in verse 7: 'Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen'. This is the theme of the book, it's what it's leading up to in chapter 19, where the Sovereign Lord comes to dispossess His enemies from the earth. This blessed One that you have just seen is coming! Here's three things about this coming: one, it is an undeniable certainty. 'Behold, He is coming with clouds'. In Acts chapter 1 we read that the apostles gathered and saw the Lord Jesus go up into heaven in a cloud, and the angel said: 'This same Jesus that you have seen go in this manner, shall so come again in like manner as you have seen Him go with clouds' - is that not what it says? 'Behold, He cometh with clouds'. The scoffers may say, as Peter said in his day, 'They say, 'Where is the promise of His coming? The fathers have died and sleep, they spoke of His coming, and He didn't come and they died''.

My friend, His coming is an undeniable certainty, it is also a universal sight. Every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. Matthew 24 concurs with this in verses 28 and 29, that this is not an invisible coming, this is different from John 14, and 1 Thessalonians 4, and 1 Corinthians 15 where there is no indication in those passages that anyone other than the raptured saints of God will see the Lord - but this is the revelation of Christ to the whole world! Even they that pierced Him will see Him, and that's significant that John should use the word 'pierced', because it was he in his record of the cross in John 19 who spoke of the Saviour being 'pierced', and those looking upon Him who pierced Him. Zechariah 12 and verse 10 says: 'I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn'. What does that mean? The house of David will mourn His coming, those who pierced Him - it's not talking about the four Roman soldiers that were over His crucifixion, it's talking about the people, the nation, His own who He came to who would not receive Him. The individuals that pierced Christ literally died long ago, they will have their comeuppance at the Great White Throne - but the nation accepted the guilt, 'Let His blood be upon us and our children's children'. Peter, when he preached at Pentecost in Acts 2, he said: 'Ye men of Israel, ye took the Prince of Life and slew Him'.

How could it mean anything but the nation of Israel? A true revelation to them, praise God, they will repent at the sight - but for others it will be a coming of unprecedented sorrow. Look at the end of the verse, all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. He comes to judge the earth, to set up His kingdom. My friend, will you be among those who weep and wail when Jesus comes again, because you have never been washed from your sins, you have never trusted Him as your Saviour? Praise God, the believer doesn't have to wail, but he says just like John: 'Even so, come. Amen'. Is that how you approach it?

In verse 8 we have a change of speaker, it is now the Lord Jesus speaking, and He calls Himself the 'Alpha and Omega', which is the first and the last letter of the Greek alphabet, 'the beginning and the end'. Now please, again, note the Trinitarian doctrine of the Godhead - there can't be two Alpha's and Omega's, there can't be two beginnings and endings, so there must be one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Think about an alphabet for a moment, because in an alphabet - A to Z as we would call it, although it's A and O here - an alphabet is an ingenious mechanism whereby we can store and communicate, as far as we are concerned as human beings, all knowledge. All human knowledge can be stored and communicated by 26 letters, at least in our English alphabet. It can be arranged into almost endless combinations to convey what we want.

What this is speaking of is that Christ is not only the beginning and the ending, but He is the Supreme Sovereign Divine Alphabet, there is nothing outside His knowledge. Colossians 2: 'In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge', that's why He is called at the end of verse 8, 'the Almighty' - El-Shaddai, the Omnipotent God! The book of the Revelation is the consummation of all things by the Alpha and Omega, by the beginning and the ending. Someone has called it, and I like this, 'Revelation is the Grand Central Station of the Bible, because it's here where all the trains come in'.

'What trains?', you say. Trains of thought, trains of thought that began in the book of Genesis and followed through to the other Bible books, such as the concept of the scarlet line of redemption, the nation of Israel, the Gentile nations, the church, Satan and the adversaries of God, God's people, the Antichrist, many many more trains - and they're all coming together. I wish I had time to show you tonight. In Genesis you have the commencement of heaven and earth, verse 1 chapter 1, 'In the beginning God made heaven and earth'. Here in chapter 21 of Revelation we have the consummation of heaven and earth. Genesis chapter 3 we have the entrance of sin - praise God, in Revelation 21 we have the end of sin, the end of the curse. In Genesis chapter 3 we have the dawn of Satan and his activities, in Revelation 20 we have the doom of Satan and all His adversaries. In Genesis chapter 2 and 3 we have the tree of life relinquished, rejected, and then in Revelation 22 the tree of life is regained. In Genesis chapters 2 and 5 death makes an entrance - praise God, in Revelation 21 death makes an exit, gone forever! In Genesis 3 sorrow begins; in Revelation 21 sorrow is banished - we could go on and on, and on and on - all of it due to what? The Revelation of Jesus Christ, it's all in Him, He is the total message of this book. Indeed, He conveys the whole revelation of the truth that God wants man to know, it's in Him! There is nothing revealed before Him, there is nothing after Him, there is nothing without Him - He is the sum total of all of God's revelation to mankind.

William MacDonald put it well: 'The one He is who spans time and eternity, and exhausts the vocabulary of excellence. He is the source and the goal of creation, and it is He who began and will end the divine programme in the world. He is the Almighty'. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - October 2007

www.preachtheword.com

info@preachtheword.com

The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 3

" The Vision Of The Glorified Lord"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Turn with me then to Revelation please, chapter 1, we're going to read from verse 9 this time through to the end of the chapter. We've a lot to get through tonight, so I trust you'll stay with us as we get through these verses.

Verse 9 of chapter 1: "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches".

Tonight we are considering 'The Vision Of The Glorified Lord', and in verse 9 at the very beginning of our section once more this evening we are confronted by the recipient of this revelation, that is the apostle John. Now we've covered considerable ground concerning him in previous nights, save to say that he designates himself in this verse in a different way than he has hitherto. He says: 'I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation'. He doesn't use any ecclesiastical terms concerning himself, not even the title 'apostle' that he was perfectly right in using if he had done - but he just calls himself 'John', and he also confesses his solidarity with those who were in the churches of Asia Minor who were suffering for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the apostle John was there incarcerated on the Isle of Patmos. So we saw in previous weeks that this book is a letter written by a suffering saint to the suffering saints of Asia Minor. It's terribly important that we remember that in all of our interpretations.

Now, as we'll see in the weeks that lie ahead, the seven churches, some of them, that he is writing to are already experiencing such persecution. If you turn to chapter 2 just for a moment and look down at verse 10 concerning the church at Smyrna, the Lord Jesus speaks to them and says: 'Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall 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 a crown of life'. Now these believers, and indeed we today, should not be surprised that we will face suffering and persecution. Our Lord promised it, the apostle Paul indeed described in the book of Acts that suffering must come before the kingdom enters in. You may remember his words, that his business as an apostle and a servant of the Lord was to confirm the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God.

Of course, James 1 tells us that such trial and tribulation develops in our lives, as the children of God, patience and Christian maturity. So right away we see that the weight of New Testament teaching is that God's plan is that we should endure tribulation, trial and trouble as a pre-requisite for reigning in the kingdom of God in a near future day. Now right away that puts the cat among the 'health and wealth' pigeons, the preachers that tell us we ought not to be poor, we ought not to suffer in any sense - the Bible teaches the converse of that. Indeed, in Romans 8 Paul said that if we are the children of God then we are 'heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together with him'. Of course that famous verse that Paul spoke to Timothy in his letter, his second epistle, 'If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him: but if we deny him, he will deny us'. God's plan is that suffering, tribulation, is the pre-requisite for entering into the kingdom of God. In other words, there will be no crown without the cross - for the Saviour the cross must come before the crown, and it is no different for we, His servants. It is the suffering, and then the glory: that is God's order.

Now we see this personified in none other than the recipient of this revelation, John the apostle. He is effectively in the Alcatraz of the day, out on the Isle of Patmos, and verse 9 tells us he is there 'for the testimony of Jesus', 'for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ'. That word 'testimony' is very interesting, it literally is the word 'witness', and it is the basis for our English word 'martyr'. So this testimony, this witness that John is engaged in, and indeed the first century saints of God were all engaged in, it doesn't just involve sweat and tears, but it incorporates the very shedding of their life's blood. Now we could spend some time on that just now: how is our witness for Christ? Do we even shed a tear? Precipitate sweat in an effort to see others won for Christ? I'm sure for none of us we have resisted to blood, striving against sinfulness and in our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ - it makes me feel very pygmy-like in comparison to John and the other saints of the first century. We want to entertain people into the kingdom of God today, these folk were dying to get them in - literally.

John was exiled in an effort by the authorities to silence him. He was there because of the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ - but what was the result? They wanted to shut him up, but there on that island he is given the greatest revelation of Jesus Christ ever! That ought to be an encouragement to all our hearts tonight: was John discouraged a little out on that island? I'm sure, as a human with a nature like ours, he was. Was he despairing? Well, I don't know about that, but I'm sure he was near to it. He probably thought at times that his ministry was over, and his usefulness for God was behind him - but little did he know that the best was yet to be. The pinnacle and the climax of his whole ministry was ahead of him. Can I say to you, discouraged servant of the Lord: that is always the case for the saints of God. No matter what you have experienced in your past, and no matter how useless you feel you are in the present, the best is always yet to be - even if that is death itself. Things can only get better for the people of God!

So the recipient of this vision is indeed John again, this suffering apostle. Now look at verse 10, because there we have the reception of this vision, and I want to bring this to you under three headings. First of all: the manner it was given. Then secondly: the time it was given. And thirdly: the One who is giving it. Now if you look at verse 10 you will see that John says he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Now let's just deal with that first expression: 'I was in the Spirit' - that is the manner in which the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Apocalypse was given to him. Now let me make a general application upon that thought: if you or I ever want a glimpse of Him in glory, as the hymn says, we will need to be in the Spirit in a general sense. We need to be walking in unclouded fellowship, thus in a position to receive divine communications - in other words, we need to be near to hear. Is that not what the Psalmist said, when he said: 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him'?

Now they tried to isolate the apostle John from communion with Christian people, and in effect what happened was: they could not isolate him from communication with the Christ. That's wonderful, because if we are in a position of unclouded communion with the Lord Jesus, you as a Christian can be in two places at once. Now, as a man, I'm sure some of you are often heard to say: 'I can't be in two places at once' - or maybe it's the women say that? But all of us as Christians can say that truly, because here we see John on the Isle of Patmos, but he is also dwelling in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He is imprisoned by the Romans, and yet he's also at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Samuel Rutherford was imprisoned in Aberdeen for preaching the gospel, very similar to the circumstances of John, and writing to his own church he ended one of his letters by saying these words: 'Jesus Christ came to me, into my prison cell last night, and every stone in it glowed like a ruby'. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus; and sometimes the darker the cell, the greater the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ will be - what a wonderful privilege! Constant, uninterrupted communion with the King of kings and the Lord of lords - and yet how little all of us avail of it, including myself.

But the specific meaning, when John said 'I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day', is more than simply his communion with God. What John was in effect saying was that he was carried, beyond the normal sense, into a state where God could reveal supernaturally to him the content of this book of Revelation. Other prophets of God experienced this, like Ezekiel, and the apostles Peter and Paul. Now, I know that some of you, along with myself, revere the great apostle Paul - and it is only right that we should. He has given us about 13 books in the New Testament, the apostle to the Gentiles, but please - as you set him on a pinnacle - don't forget the apostle John. John was there on that snow-capped Hermon Mount when the Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured before the three disciples. John was there in the Garden of Gethsemane when the Lord Jesus was in an agony of prayer. John was the only disciple who remained at the foot of the rugged cross. Some of the last words of our Lord on this earth were spoken to John the disciple: 'Behold, thy mother'. Now John becomes the recipient of the last inspired revelation of God in the New Testament to His people, that we have in this last book of the Bible.

He is a wonderful character, and whilst he had great depth of knowledge and understanding of spiritual things, what primarily marked the recipient of the book of the Revelation was his love. There is a lesson for us all, and please don't miss it: to love the Lord Jesus Christ is to view the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not how much you know, but it's got a lot to do with how much you love. This beloved disciple who had a special place before the Lord when He was on the earth, also found a special place before the Lord when He had ascended to heaven.

The manner that this vision was received...look also at the time that it was given: 'I was in the Spirit', verse 10, 'on the Lord's day'. Now some people feel that this expression means 'the day of the Lord', and that expression is an expression for the time period when God will judge the nations by the tribulation, and pour many judgements upon them. Many believe that, because John saw a vision of these future events, that he was propelled into 'the day of the Lord'. Now I have to say that the - and I'm not an expert in Greek, far from it - but the Greek expression here seems to be quite different than the one that is often used of 'the day of the Lord'. That literally could be translated like this: 'I was in the Spirit on the Lordly day' - the Lordly day, 'Lord' is used as an adjective here. There's only one other time in the New Testament where Lord is used as an adjective, and that is the 'Lordly Supper' - the Lord's Supper. Of course, the Lord's Supper was practised, eventually, on the first day of the week, which was the day of resurrection, which was also the day that subsequent to the Lord's resurrection there were two appearances of the Lord to His disciples. It was on that first day of the week that the Holy Spirit descended on the Day of Pentecost, and it was in the book of Corinthians that Paul instructed those believers to take collections, stewardship, on the first day of the week. The Lordly Supper was on that day.

Now add to that fact that history testifies, and there is quite a lot of evidence to show, that in some parts of the Roman Empire, notably in Egypt and Asia Minor (and these letters are being written to the churches of Asia Minor), that there was an imperial cult existent - that is, a religious system dedicated to worshipping the Caesars as god. Incorporated within their religion were 'Emperors Days', and sometimes they were once a month when they commemorated worship to their deity Emperor - and even in some places they observed that day once a week. Now it's my persuasion, for what it's worth, that the Christians in contrast adopted the first day of the week in honour of their Lord, and that became 'the Lordly Day' - and how fitting, even if that's not the case, how fitting it is that it is on this particular day that John receives a Revelation of Jesus Christ. I believe this was the Lord's day.

The third thing I want you to notice regarding the reception of the vision was the One giving it, verse 11, John heard behind him a great voice, as a trumpet: 'Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last'. Now I want you to notice that in verse 12, John turns to see the voice that spake with him and, after seeing the golden candlesticks, in verse 13 we see that he sees the Son of Man, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of the candlesticks, in the midst of the churches. So the voice that spoke and said 'I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last' is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God the Son. How could anyone doubt the doctrine of the Triune Godhead, and the deity of our Lord Jesus? Again we see in verse 11 the addressees of this letter: 'What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea'.

Now let's move on swiftly to the core of this passage of Scripture, the record of the vision. We've looked at the recipient of the vision, the reception of the vision, let's look at the record that we have before us. Now verse 12 tells us that John turned to see the voice, and even before he sees the Lord Jesus, he sees the seven churches of Asia Minor. Now he sees them as lampstands, how do I know that these lampstands are the seven churches? Well, He gives us the interpretation in verse 20, if you look down, after describing the mystery of the seven stars He says at the end that: 'the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches'. Now, of course, note in verse 13 that the focal point of this vision is not so much the seven churches, but Christ in the midst of the church - He is the focal point of the vision. The Spirit of God wants these seven churches of Asia Minor to recognize the One who is in their midst.

Now before we look at the depiction of Him, let's consider why it is that the Holy Spirit uses this figure of a lampstand for each church. Some of you may be familiar that in the Old Testament in the Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and in the Temple stood a lampstand - rather a candlestick might be a more accurate description, there is a picture of one here on the screen which, incidentally, I believe is the one being prepared for the new Temple in Jerusalem. It's already finished, that's interesting, we will use that in weeks perhaps that lie ahead. But this is a menorah, which is one lampstand with seven candles on it, seven lights. In the Old Testament this was always a symbol for Israel's national testimony for God on the earth, they were His chosen Old Testament people to bear witness and shine the light of God unto the Gentile world nations. Of course Old Testament history shows us, as we see in 2 Chronicles 36, that they failed so miserably in bearing testimony to God that that menorah was removed to Babylon. Now we know that there is a day yet to come, according to Zechariah 4, when the testimony will be restored to Israel, and we see that menorah again in Zechariah 4, and that will be fulfilled in the millennial reign of Christ on the earth for a thousand years.

Now why do I tell you all that? Well, at the moment Israel's testimony for God is suspended because of their unbelief. So, during this age, which is the church age, the Church of Jesus Christ gives testimony to God on the earth, and it is a complete testimony - as the seven lampstands testify, seven being the number of completeness - but these seven lampstands are separate. It's not now seven lights on one candlestick, it's not an entity that is one nation, but seven separate local churches giving testimony to the Lord Jesus - individual congregations, each of these lampstands, as you can see, stands alone: single stemmed, freestanding, with one base.

Now let me give you some practical applications from this figure and symbol that John uses. Here's the first: during this New Testament age of grace the complete church, that is the body of Christ that is made up universally of born-again believers alone, the complete church through the witness of the local churches is the organ of God's testimony on the earth today. Now that might seem elementary to some of you, but I believe that this truth needs to be rediscovered in the day in which we are living. The first reason I believe that is that there is a very low view of the church abroad in evangelicalism, and there is also a very low view concerning New Testament church principles that we find in the Bible - but what we see here in this letter is that the church matters to God, and so it should matter to us.

The second reason why I need to rediscover this truth is because in our modern age organisations have replaced God's organism of the New Testament body of Christ. Now let me say that I'm not faulting Christian organisations, I feel that they have stepped in where the church has failed, and I believe God ordained them to do the work that the church was failing to do. But God chose, from the beginning in His plan, that the church should be His organ of testimony on the earth, and the revelation that we are given here is of the Lord Jesus in heaven, operating on the earth through the church; and the church operating in localities through assemblies. Therefore it follows that the church on earth should function for the Lord Jesus - is it a revelation to you that the church does not function for unbelievers? It doesn't. It functions for Christ. We have to reach out to unbelievers, but we don't order ourselves according to what suits them, but what suits Christ for He is the one and only Head of the church. Of course the parable of the lampstand, which we looked at as we were going through Mark's gospel, shows us that the Lord Jesus envisaged that we, the church, should be the ones who should shed abroad His light in this age.

Here's a second practical application: Christ, just as He is in this vision, today is in the midst of His church. Now let me ask you: do you believe that? Do you believe that Christ is here, now? He said: 'Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age'. He said: 'I will not leave you comfortless, orphans, I will come to you'. He said: 'Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst'. That is a truth that should revolutionise our gatherings as Christians: that Christ is still in our midst!

Here's a third practical application of the lampstand: please note that there is nothing between the Lord Jesus and each individual lampstand. Let me be more specific: there is no agency, there are no hierarchies, no organisations - each of these lampstands are autonomous, they are self-governing, and the only thing that unites them in common is their relationship with Christ. I believe that's the way it should be. No denominations, no churches gathering concerning particular interpretations, but just in their relationship to Christ. That's the way it was in the beginning, and I believe it's the way it should be today.

Then look at verse 13, John hadn't seen Him for well near 60 years, and here he - in the midst of the seven candlesticks - sees 'one like unto the Son of man', Christ in the midst of the churches, like unto the Son of Man. Now the Son of Man and this depiction is an apocalyptic one - now what I mean by that is that though 'the Son of Man' is the favoured title of the Lord Jesus that He uses of Himself in the Gospels, in the Gospels it's put like this: 'the Son of the man', literally in the Greek language, but here it is 'a Son of man'. Now, 'What's the difference?', you say - well, that is the exact expression that is used way back in the book of Daniel. Now I want you to turn with me to Daniel 7 please - and if you can't find Daniel, just look for Ezekiel, and it's a big one, and right after Ezekiel you'll find Daniel. Daniel chapter 7, and you'll see right away the similarity of the description given here of 'a Son of man' - Daniel 7:13: 'I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him'. Now if you go back to verse 9 there is a depiction of God: 'I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days', that is God, 'did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire'.

Now go to chapter 10 of Daniel and verse 5: 'Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude'. This is a depiction of not only the Ancient of days who is God, but a Son of man who is always within the Scriptures, in the book of Ezekiel and the book of Daniel and other prophetic apocalyptic books, the One who would come - not just speaking of Christ's humanity, but speaking of His messianic identity. He would be the prophesied One!

Now how does He appear here in Revelation 1 in the midst of the church? Let's look first of all at His dress. The first thing we see - and if you look at the screen it will give you a picture of it, but do look at the scriptures primarily - is that the Lord Jesus is wearing a linen white robe, and He is adorned by a sash across His breast. Now Exodus 28 verse 4 tells us that this was the garb of the High Priest of Israel. Now there are many other things mentioned there, but certainly this dress that the Saviour is shown to wear here is the high priestly garb - but it's a little bit different in that the Lord is appearing here as not just the High Priest in the midst of the churches, but He is appearing to judge them, so we could say that this is the High Priest Judge before us.

Now look please at the features as the Lord Jesus is depicted - now remember it is a depiction of Him, apocalyptically, with signs and symbols; it's not a literal feature of the Lord Jesus. There is a sevenfold description here of Him. First of all in verse 14, the first part, we see His hair and His head are white like wool. We read from Daniel 7 that this is identical to the Ancient of days, which is a title of God. If we were to look at Matthew chapter 17 and verse 2, John would have witnessed before that as the Lord Jesus was transfigured before them, His face did shine as the sun, and His garment was white as light. That speaks of Christ's holiness, the white purity of the Son of Man - He is God, for only God is truly holy.

Then we see in verse 14 again that His eyes were as a flame of fire, and that speaks very similarly to His righteous judgement. These fiery eyes, in holiness, are able to sear our souls and judge us righteously according to God's holiness. It speaks specifically, I think, of Christ's omniscience - He is the all-seeing God who can see into the depths of our hearts. Then we see a third description in verse 15, His feet like unto fine brass, brass refined in the furnace. Now that 'brass' could be translated 'bronze', and that helps us a little because bronze in the Old Testament is a figure of judgement - that's why you've got a bronze, a brazen altar on which there was a sacrifice for sin. God was depicting judgement for sin on that lamb. Here in these bronze feet we have a picture of how this High Priest Judge is chastising and judging His church through this vision.

Then we find fourthly, His voice is as many waters. Now that correlates with Ezekiel 43, a description of God there, it correlates with Psalm 29 if you care to read it, and it's describing to us a cataract that drowns all other voices. Have you ever been to some of the great waterfalls of our world, like Niagara or Victoria? You can't hear anything other than the roar of the water. This speaks of Christ's authority: no other voice needs to be heard by the churches, other than Christ's - boy do we need to hear that today!

Then we have fifthly, in his right hand, verse 16, He is holding seven stars. Now the right-hand was the hand of favour and protection. If we look down to verse 20, the Lord Himself gives us the interpretation of what these stars are - the stars equal the angels of the seven churches. Now really the figure, whatever this means, the figure and the lesson that is being given to us is: Christ is in control of the churches, He holds them in His hand. Now let's deal with the controversy for a moment, because many people ask: 'Who are these angels?' - and we could go on with interpretations, but generally there are three. The word 'angel' could be translated 'messengers', and some believe that these were the human messengers that took the letters to these seven churches. Then there are others who say: 'Well, these were the pastors, or the pastor of each of these seven churches' - the Bishop if you like, the one head in each of these seven assemblies. Now the third interpretation - and I'll deal with the other two in a minute - is simply that 'angels' here means angels - that's a strange one!

Now I don't believe that these angels speak of messengers, and I'll tell you why in a moment. I don't believe that it speaks of one pastor or one bishop, as the head representing each of these churches, because frankly the New Testament knows nothing about one single representative of a local assembly - it's nowhere else to be found in the New Testament, so it would be a surprise to find it here. I believe it means angels, and the word is not used in any other way in this book, and indeed scarcely is it used meaning anything else in the New Testament. In Hebrews 1 verse 14 we read there concerning angels: 'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?'. Angels minister in strange ways, very unknown ways at times, to believers in the church of Jesus Christ - therefore I don't think it unreasonable to think of angels having a role in the church. Now this is a bit hard to define, and yet in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 regarding headship and indeed head-covering, Paul told the believers there: 'For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels'.

Now in Scripture we find that angels represented nations, we find that Peter, according to the church of his day, had a guardian angel who looked after him when he was in prison and escaping. We find in Hebrews that angels are ministering spirits - should it be strange if we think that angels can represent churches before God? After all, God gave this vision to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ gave the vision to an angel, and an angel gave the vision to John the apostle. Why should it be strange that these letters should be addressed to angels that may well represent some of these churches? But the final reason for me interpreting it like this is verse 20: it's very unlikely for John to interpret the symbol of a star by another symbol - did you hear that? It is very unusual for John to interpret one symbol by another symbol, because that's what he'd be doing if these angels meant something other than angels - but he interprets the symbol, star, as an angel. Well, I'll leave it there, I'm sure many of you won't agree with me on that. The point is this: these stars are in Christ's right-hand, and in the next number of weeks we're going to see in these seven letters to the seven churches that He has some scathing criticism of them as their High Priest Judge - and yet, with all that, they are secure in His right hand.

The sixth description we have of Him here in verse 16 is that out of His mouth comes a twoedged sword - and that is, I believe, the judging power of the word of God as we see it in Hebrews 4 and John 12. It is here Christ's judgement not of the church's enemies, but of the church! Then seventhly in verse 16 we see that 'His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength', 'brilliant' is the word, it is the word 'dynamus' that we get the word 'power' and 'dynamite' from, it is Christ's glory. When you can find all of these depictions and descriptions of the Lord Jesus, you see Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, the High Priest as He is in His ministry to the church now in this age, supremely as the High Priest and Judge of His people. Now later we're going to see in this Apocalypse that He judges His enemies and His foes, but here He is judging His church - why? Because judgement must begin at the house of God! So that's where it begins here in the book of Revelation.

Now, please don't misunderstand me, the churches are being judged here with the purpose of purification and reward, but the nations of unbelievers will be judged with the purpose of punishment. We will never be punished because Christ was judged for our sins on the cross, but here it's the matter of purification and reward, and being fit to stand before Him. Now look at verse 17, because here we have the reaction of John to the vision: 'When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last'. Now this is beautiful: John expires, as if he was dead he falls. This was not prostration of worship, he was so overwhelmed by what he saw that he falls before Christ! The Lord Jesus reaches out His right-hand and touches him - this is mighty! The hand in which He holds the church is also at the disposal for an individual saint of God who needs His touch. Does that help you tonight? It helps me! He's not too busy to take my needs into account, and He says to John and He says to us: 'Fear not; I am the first and the last', the title of Jehovah Himself - why should we fear?

Verse 18: 'I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen'. Now that literally is 'I am He that became dead', that's what it literally means. It doesn't sound that good in English, but that's what it means, because He could not die. We are dying from the moment we are born, but this is the Eternal Son of God and He became dead. The One eternally alive died and rose again, and is now alive for evermore. He says, look at it in verse 18, He has the keys of Hades and of death. Now Hades was the realm of the dead, and that speaks of the soul. Death speaks of the grave, which is where the body goes. What the Lord is saying is: 'Because I died, and because I was buried, and because I rose again, I have the keys of Hades - the place for the soul - and the grave - the place for the body'. Oh, this is precious: Christ snatched from Satan his power over death, it was his and it's no longer his! Now He possesses authority over death; and that means, Christian here tonight, no one can die who is saved apart from His divine permission. That helps me - as one old saint of God said: 'I am immortal until it is my time to go', so are you if you're a child of God.

What the Lord is saying is: 'Fear not' - are you here tonight and you fear what the future might hold? He's saying to you: 'Fear not, for the keys are in my hands'. Remember that these are suffering, persecuted believers, and He's telling them: 'Fear not, I'm in control - not the lions, not the burning stake, not the Emperor - I'm in control!'. Could your future be in a safer pair of hands? One day, as this book will show us in later weeks in chapter 21 and verse 14, He is going to cast Hades and death into the lake of fire, and there'll be no death any more - Hallelujah!

John's reaction was to fall at the feet of the Lord. Can I ask you in the closing moments of our meeting: what is your reaction to this vision of the glorified Lord? Because I have a suspicion that our view of Him now is very often not John's view of Him here in chapter 1, am I right? We have an image that's maybe from children's picture books, of a humble Galilean, the despised Nazarene, the Man of Sorrows. Now please look at verse 19 with me for a moment, because here is the outline of the book that we saw in previous weeks, John is told: 'Write the things which thou hast seen', and we saw that the things that he saw, the 'had seen', were the things of chapter 1, this very vision itself. The 'things which are' are chapters 2 and 3, the letters to the seven churches. The 'things which shall be hereafter' is the rest of the book and the future of this world - but you need to realise that though chapter 1 is past when John's writing this book, it is a description of how the Lord Jesus Christ is now! We need to realign our view of Him to this vision here before us. Now don't misunderstand what I'm saying please, I sing with the best of them:

'Tell me the stories of Jesus,

Write on my heart every word.

Tell me the stories most precious,

Dearest that ever were heard'.

We must meditate on how He was in the Gospels and what He did, because it's through His life and through His death and through His resurrection recorded here in the gospel that we derive our salvation. Not only do we need to meditate on it, it is our message: we preach Christ crucified! It's only through that message of the Saviour that lived and died and rose again that people can be saved. It's also our motivation, Hebrews 12:3: 'For consider him that endured such contradiction', and opposition, 'of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds' - and boy, these suffering Christians needed such motivation. They needed to draw strength and instruction from how the Lord Jesus lived and died. How He was comprises the foundation of our faith, but please note: don't make the mistake that the past is the present, because it isn't. As Paul said: 'Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him' - now! - 'and given him a name which is above every name' - that's how He is now!

Now when John was in the upper room in the Gospels, you remember in John 13 he leaned on Jesus' bosom - but when he sees the glorified Lord as He is now, he falls on his face. Paul told the Corinthians: 'From now on we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh; yet now we know Him thus no longer'. Don't confuse how He was with how He is. Now this is important - why? Because these downtrodden saints in the first century, like downtrodden saints in the 21st century, can take comfort - yes - from the Gospels, from the One who suffered as their forerunner, but their confidence is in the One who is now, who has risen and overcome, and who is no longer trodden underfoot but soon shall tread the wine press of fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. To the suffering Christian he says today: 'The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly'. The result of what He is now ought to inspire in us faith and praise, for the highest place that heaven affords is His by sovereign right, now!

You see, the potential problem with the church in John's day, and I believe it has been the church's problem every day since Pentecost, is that they lose a vision of the glorified Lord. The tempter, Satan, is conscious that many good men will never be deflected by outright evil, so his ploy is that he seeks to get them obsessed by other things. He gives preeminence of place to displace Christ from His central position. Church history observers for years have pointed out that almost every organisation that began in the power of the Spirit, sooner or later gradually were drawn away from their devotion to Christ - every one. What has been true of organisations has also been true of individuals: distracted from a vision of the glorified Christ in our midst.

We're going to see in the weeks that lie ahead that these seven churches are representative of the churches in John's day; we're going to see, I believe, that they're representative of the church right up until our day. We are in danger, folk, of losing a vision and losing sight of Christ. That is why they needed a revelation of Him, that is why we need a revelation of Him - and I believe the only thing, listen to me, that is going to save the testimony of Jesus Christ in the local churches of our land today is a fresh vision of the glorified Lord - it's the only thing!

A father was trying to get peace to read his copy of the Daily Telegraph. The problem was, every time he settled down with his cup of tea his little girl kept on asking him questions. So he came up with a bright idea, and off his coffee table he lifted a missionary magazine. He ripped a page of a map of the world out of it, and ripped it into several pieces, and then said: 'Dear, I've got something for you to do, it's a little puzzle. Here's a map of the world, see if you can put the jigsaw puzzle together', and he sat down again to his Daily Telegraph. In a few minutes she was back - and he couldn't believe it, she had it all done! He asked her: 'How did you do it so fast?', and like a flash she replied, 'Well, Dad, it was easy. I found a picture of the Lord Jesus on the other side, and I knew when I had Him in the right place the whole world would be all right'.

He needs to be in the right place as the glorified and risen Lord in the church. He is the only head of the church, in your life, believer. As we will see in this book, until He is in His right place in this universe, this world will not be alright - but, praise God, it will when He is given preeminence. I trust that you, this evening, have been granted a vision of the glorified Lord.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - October 2007

www.preachtheword.com

info@preachtheword.com

The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 4

" Ephesus, The Loveless Church"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Revelation chapter 2 and beginning to read at verse 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; I know thy works, and thy labour, 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: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 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. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God".

Now let me refer you back, please, to chapter 1 verse 19 for a moment because there, you will remember, we have the inspired outline of this book. Many outlines have been offered by scholars and theologians over the years, but here we have the one that God's word actually gives us. We'll not spend too much time on it, save to say, as we have said in previous weeks, that John was instructed to 'Write the things which thou hast seen' - that comprises the vision of chapter 1 - 'and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter'. The things which shall be hereafter, chapter 4 right to the end of the book, things that are yet to be, in the sense of future. What we are looking at these weeks, as we look at the seven churches, in the things which are - the things that were for John as he wrote these books, these seven letters - but these are also the things which are for us, because as they referred to the church age, we are also in the same age as John was.

You remember that we noted that there are seven churches - there were, of course, more than seven in Asia Minor in John's day; and therefore the seven are representative of something. Seven, of course, as a number in the Bible means completeness - and so we deduce that John, by the inspiration of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Spirit, is giving us a complete picture and overview of the Church of Jesus Christ, and conditions that will prevail within it throughout this age. So this is a divine revelation concerning the church age, if you like, a complete picture of the moral and spiritual history that will prevail in the church of Jesus Christ before the Lord Jesus returns.

Now that being said, and accepted by most, there are three understandings of how John depicts the church age. Let me give you those briefly: the first is that they should be understood literally, that is that these seven letters are depicting the actual conditions that were extant in these seven literal Asia Minor churches that the Lord Jesus addresses through the apostle. Now we have to say that that is emphatically the case, these are seven literal churches. They existed in John's day, and these are seven literal letters that were sent to them all, and we must maintain that. Then the second understanding of these letters is that they are not only literal but universal, that meaning that they depict Christendom on the earth at any one time in its history. What I mean by that is that any of the features in any of these seven churches are existent, at least in part, in every century since the church was born at Pentecost. So they are universal, as far as the church age is concerned.

There is the literal understanding, the universal understanding, and thirdly there is what is said to be the prophetic understanding - that is that John gives us here a preview of the whole history of Christendom, and each church representing a distinct actual period, and there are general trends downward from the apostolic age right down to the age of the last day in the Laodicean church. There is no doubt about it that when that interpretation is taken, even the very names of these seven churches is seen to be significant - for instance this first church that lost its first love is Ephesus, which literally means 'desirable'. That interpretation, the prophetic interpretation, might account for the mystery that we read in verse 20 of chapter 1, the mystery of the seven stars. Of course a mystery in Biblical terms is always something that hitherto had never been revealed, but God by inspiration is revealing it.

Let me just go back to number two for a moment, this universal understanding - that is that any of these conditions could be existent at any time in the church's history. That interpretation actually fits in very well with the parables of Matthew chapter 13. In Matthew chapter 13 we have the mystery parables of the kingdom, and there the Lord Jesus Christ gives seven parables describing the conditions of the kingdom of God during the church age - that is, this particular age in which we live. Just look at the screen for a moment, and there you have it, and we see a rather strange correspondence between the seven churches of Revelation and these seven parables. I'll not go into it in great detail this evening, I encourage you to go home and look at it yourself - but the church of Ephesus shows great similarities to the parable of the sower, the church of Smyrna similarities to the parable of the wheat and tares, the church of Pergamos similarities to the parable of the mustard seed, the church of Thyatira similarities to the parable of the leaven, the church at Sardis the parable of the treasure hidden, the church at Philadelphia the parable of the pearl, and the church at Laodicea the parable of the dragnet. You see there a continual growth and increasing apostasy until the rapture of the church to heaven.

Incidentally, when our Lord Jesus introduced these seven parables of the kingdom, do you remember the words that He spoke? 'Let him who has ears to hear, hear', which is a phrase that is repeated seven times, once in each of these churches. Of course, if we look at Ephesus as our example this evening, the church in Ephesus was faithful in sowing the word of God. The parable of the sower which corresponds to it tells how the children of God would sow the seed of the word of God throughout this church age: some would receive the seed and would not bear fruit because, Jesus said, of their love of other things - isn't that so?

Now let's move on to the prophetic interpretation to give it some time for a moment. When we look at the seven churches from that perspective and understanding, we see that this loveless church of Ephesus speaks of the post-apostolic church, that's how scholars often understand it - that is, the first century church that was generally praiseworthy but had already begun to leave its first love. Next week we will look at the church of Smyrna, which speaks of the persecuted church, the church from the first century through to the fourth century who were persecuted under various Roman emperors. The third church of Pergamos is the compromising church, which fits very well with the church of the fourth and the fifth century Christianity which became recognized as the official religion through Constantine the emperor's patronage. Incidentally, some scholars see these first three churches as conditions of the early church, and the next four as general conditions and main components of what we would call Christendom today - those who profess to be Christ's, whether they belong to Him or not. So those four remainder churches are: Thyatira, which we could title 'The Corrupt Church', and it fits well with the sixth century to the 15th century, or if you like right up to today. The Roman Catholic Church largely held sway in Western Christendom until it was rocked by the Reformation, and in the East the Orthodox Church ruled. Then we have the church at Sardis, which could be called 'The Dead Church', the 16th and 17th century, or right up to today, the post-Reformation period where various reformation denominations began to grow cold and away from the doctrines of the Reformation. Philadelphia could be called 'The Faithful Church', and of course it is very similar to the 18th and 19th century right up to today, where there were mighty revivals and awakenings, and missionary endeavour increased right across the globe - and we know that that's still happening in places today. Then finally the seventh church of Laodicea, and in the prophetic understanding of these seven letters they are 'The Lukewarm Church', picturing the last days church, an apostate church through false teaching and various other problems.

Now I'm not going to spend time on either interpretation two, that is the universal interpretation, or the prophetic one - save to say that it would seem incredible that such similarities would be pure accident. Though that is said, and we could spend the whole series looking at those particular understandings of these seven churches, I think we must beware of pressing them beyond their bounds because their interpretations under those understandings are based on deduction from the contents, and not from explicit statements in the text. Therefore I want to major first of all on the literal understanding of these seven letters as they were written to those seven literal churches, but I also want to introduce to you tonight a fourth understanding that I haven't mentioned, and that is a personal application - they've got something to say to you and to me. Seven times repeated, we find it here in our passage tonight in verse 7: 'He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches' - seven times it is repeated. In other words - 'He that hath an ear to hear' - there is a personal application, as well as a prophetic, a universal and a literal, there is a personal application of the teaching of these seven letters to the seven churches.

Looking at all these seven letters together, with minor exceptions, there is an organised and general pattern in them all, and I'm going to be following this pattern each week. First of all we see that each letter to each church is introduced by some of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ which are directly derived from the vision of the glorified Lord that we studied last week in chapter 1, that vision of Him being of a Priest Judge in the midst of His church, judging them in glorified risen power. Each of these characteristics that introduce each letter is very fitting to the particular problems that dwell within each of the seven churches. For instance, let me give you the example from Ephesus tonight - if you look at verse 1, the Lord Jesus is introduced as 'He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks'. Now if you look down please to verse 5, you see that the Lord threatens to come to them quickly and remove their candlestick out of his place, except they repent. Now we will look at the significance of that a little bit later, but I just want you to see that the introduction of our Lord Jesus Christ in each letter, in His particular characteristic to that church, is significant to the problems that they find themselves in. He's introduced as the one in the midst of the candlesticks, and here He is threatening to take away their candlestick of witness. In other words, it was the vision of Jesus Christ that that church needed.

What is the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ that this church needs? What is the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ that you need? Hopefully you'll get one of Him at some stage tonight. Not only are His characteristics introduced, but secondly there is a commendation given to each church - except, of course, Laodicea, the last church of the seven. What a terrible thing it is to be at church that Jesus Christ cannot commend! Then we find thirdly that there is a criticism given to each church - of course, except Smyrna and Philadelphia. What a blessing to be a church that the Lord Jesus Christ does not judge! Fourthly there is given to each church a corrective command in order to sort out the problems that are existent within that particular church. Fifthly in each letter there is a commitment given, a promise to overcomers in those churches - and we'll see how that is particularly relevant to the church at Ephesus later on.

Before we move on to look specifically at Ephesus, let me please highlight this beautiful fact: no matter how bad any of these seven churches in Asia Minor were, if the Lord Jesus Christ could commend them before He condemned them, He did. I think we could take a leaf out of His book, couldn't we? This is something that is characteristic of God Himself, even in the Old Testament we see in the book of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, that concerning the Kings of Israel and Judah the Holy Spirit always by inspiration mentions their good attributes before criticising their bad. Let me ask you a question that I've asked myself today: if it were you who were judging the seven churches of Asia Minor, how would you judge them? Take Thyatira for instance: Jezebel is among them, probably a woman ministering in the assembly; immorality was rife - would you or I have anything good to say about that church? I doubt it! Yet the Lord did.

Now what is the lesson that we take out of that? Well, it's simply this: neither you nor I have the gift of omniscience. You cannot see everything, I cannot see everything - what does that mean? None of us should judge anything. There's only One who can judge, because there's only One who knows all things. How critical we often are of our own church, and of our churches, and of other brothers and sisters in Christ, when we do not have the grounds to be so critical.

So let's look at these five different features in this particular letter to Ephesus tonight. First of all let's look at the characteristic of Christ that we find in verse 1. He is depicted for us as the one who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. In other words, Christ is in His proper place in that sense of guiding, controlling and ruling all that goes on in this assembly. The churches are depicted as being secure because Christ is holding them firmly in His right hand. Now incidentally there are four mentions of these seven stars being held in the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the first, it's found in verse 16 of chapter 1 and it speaks of the seven stars being in the right hand of the Lord Jesus - that speaks of security. If you look at verse 20 of chapter 1, we read of the seven stars being on the right hand of the Lord Jesus - that speaks of support. In chapter 2 verse 1 He is holding the seven stars in His right hand - that speaks of control. In chapter 3 verse 1 it says He has the seven stars in his right hand - speaking of possession. He controls the churches, He is the support of the churches, He is the security of the churches, He has the churches in His possession - and what is being communicated to us in all of these visions is that all the church needs is in the hand of the risen Christ! Do you believe that?

Now of course it was Jude in his epistle who talked about 'wandering stars', that was a figure of false apostles and false prophets - but you notice that these stars aren't wandering, these stars, at least outwardly, are in their proper position in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. But note that there's something different about this description of the characteristic of the Lord that we find in chapter 1, because He is said to be walking in the midst of the church. If you look at chapter 1 verse 13 where we first see this characteristic of Him of having the seven stars in His right hand, He is spoken of being in the midst of the churches but not walking. What we have here in this characteristic given to Ephesus is a sign and symbol of the intimacy wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ is dealing with His church, His priestly activity among them. It reminds us of how the Old Testament priests in the holy place of the Tabernacle and the Temple tended the lamps, you can read about it in Exodus 30, and they were responsible for lighting, for supplying oil, and for trimming the wicks of the lamp in the Temple. Our Lord Jesus Christ is being shown here in this characteristic as the High Priest who cares for His church, not only individual saints as we read of in Hebrews 4 - we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities - but this is a High Priest who cares for the assemblies of His saints. Here He is walking in the midst of the churches, specifically the church of Ephesus. He's not only walking, but we'll see later He says: 'I am coming and, if you don't repent, I'm going to take away your lampstand'.

Do we perceive, as New Testament Christians today, the risen Lord Jesus Christ intimately involved in our churches? What I mean by that simply is: can I see the outcome of Christ in our midst? Can you? You see, what we need to do is stand back and look objectively, and even look at the history of our churches - whatever they may be - can we perceive the Lord Jesus active in our midst, at work, judging? In other words, do you see the conditions of your local assembly as a result of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Great High Priest Judge ministering to His church? I suppose what I'm really asking is: do we look at conditions in our assemblies through man's eyes or Christ's eyes? We're going to see later how intimately involved the Lord Jesus really is in our churches.

Of course this letter is being written to the church at Ephesus, and without lengthy comment this was indeed the most important city in Asia Minor. Although Pergamum was the capital city of the province, this was the greatest city, the city of Ephesus. It was the centre of the worship of Artemis, and of course Artemis was also Diana of the Ephesians, and the people worshipped this goddess with great devotion. It was the location of the Temple of Artemis, and of course it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Ephesus was a huge centre of religion, particularly occult worship, and it was also a strategic commercial centre and a great seaport of Asia Minor. Now of course these were the reasons, as we have seen, that Paul the apostle strategically invested nearly three years in establishing a church there. But when we read the New Testament we find out that other famous New Testament characters were involved in the church here: Priscilla and Aquila, and Apollos, Timothy was sent by Paul to Ephesus, Onesiphorus and Tychicus - and of course John the apostle who is given this revelation, for 30 years himself was engaged in ministry before he was exiled by Domitian from Ephesus to the Isle of Patmos. So we can see that Ephesus had a rich heritage as a New Testament church - three or more great individuals involved in ministry there.

Now let's look at what the Lord says to them, secondly the commendation to the church that is found in verse 2, verse 3, and later on we will look at verse 6. Verse 2 first of all: 'I know thy works'. Now in each letter, each of the seven letters, the omniscient, all-knowing, omnipresent, all-being God says to each of them: 'I know thy works'. Do you know that the Lord knows all about your works? He knows all about a church's works, He is the Judge. Now look at their works: 'thy works', specifically that speaks of their service, they were a serving church, 'and thy labour'. Now that Greek word for 'labour' there means 'exercise to the point of exhaustion' - the Revised Version translates it 'toil'. In other words, you couldn't just settle into the back seat of this church - no offence to the folks in the back seat tonight - and decide that you'll not be committed in any involvement, that wasn't an option in Ephesus. Everyone worked to the sweat of their brow!

Their works, their labour and 'their patience' is commended by the Lord. They served, they were sacrificial in their labour, and they were steadfast in their patience. That speaks of endurance, stickability, their Christian faith was not a flash in the pan experience that was here today and gone tomorrow, it was something that endured. Then He commends them again: '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'. They were separated, in other words they didn't let anyone into their pulpit, or for that matter into their assembly. Of course Paul warned them - that is the elders of this church in Ephesus - when he left them in Acts 20, that, after his departure, grievous wolves would enter in among them, not sparing the flock. Now in all likelihood the apostle John who is writing this book was the last living apostle. Yet there were other people, just as there are today incidentally, who were rising up in the church claiming apostleship and apostolic authority.

So Revelation 2 and verse 2, and also 2 Corinthians 11 and various other portions of the New Testament, tell us that there were false apostles. Where there is something true, the devil seems to always raise something counterfeit. Not only were there false apostles, but we find in 1 John 4 that there were false prophets, in 2 Peter 2 there were false teachers, and even in Galatians 1:7 there were false evangelists. So in the New Testament apostolic age, or just almost after the apostolic period, falsehood was abroad - that should reassure us a little bit, because it's certainly abroad today. But the commendation to the Ephesians was: they didn't take things at face value, they tried these false apostles and found them out to be liars and false teachers, false prophets, false evangelists. So we are getting a picture painted for us by the Holy Spirit that these Ephesian Christians did not take their Christian faith lightly, they understood the great demands that were upon them as believers in the Lord Jesus.

But very quickly the Lord Jesus moves from commendation of this church to criticism of this church. Let's look at that in verse 4, for He says: 'Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love'. Who would ever have expected it? I doubt none of us would have, other than the Lord Jesus Christ who, remember, has these eyes of fire. With x-ray omniscient vision He was able to see what no one else could see. Now if love was measured by activity, the Ephesians would have been the most loving church in existence, but you see it's not. Activity is not the same as love.

Now, what does this verse mean? 'You have left your first love'. What is your first love? Well, it's not immediately clear from this verse, and some have said that this means 'a love of first importance'. What I mean is, it's speaking of their love for Christ, they have lost their love and devotion to the Lord Jesus. Others have said: 'Well, this means their love for one another', and it was a common characteristic of the New Testament church how much they loved one another. Others have said: 'Well, it is their love for mankind in general'. It is very hard to pinpoint exactly which one of those three it would be, but then there are others who say: 'This is not speaking of a love of first importance, but rather a love that is first in point of time'. What I mean by that is - and that of course incorporates all three of these loves - the love for the Lord, the love for one another, and the love for mankind in general. Let me put it how J. B. Phillips translates it: 'You do not love as you did at first', I believe that is the sense of this verse. You do not love the Lord Jesus, love one another, love all mankind, as you did at first. To put it in our terms, if I could, what is being said to Ephesus is: the honeymoon period of your early love in the first days of your Christian faith is now over - for the Lord, for one another, for the lost world.

Someone told me today an illustration that encapsulates this well. When a man, or woman for that matter, is first married, maybe they won't go out the front door without kissing goodbye to their spouse - but after one year, two years, or I don't know how many years, some are just content shouting down from the study or shouting down from the bedroom making the beds or reading a book: 'Bye bye, see you later'. What has happened is that they have become taken up with the place rather than the person. What a picture of this church: they had got taken up with the place or with the practice, but the first love that they had in the beginning for the person of the Lord Jesus, and for each other, and for a lost world, had disappeared. This first love that John is speaking about is marked by first love as we have it in a romantic sense, the first ardour, and fervency, and constancy of our love.

Now we see this in the Israelites of the Old Testament, because after Jehovah delivered them from Egyptian bondage and they were redeemed by the blood of the lamb, we read in Jeremiah 2 verse 2, Jeremiah says: 'Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals', or thy betrothals, 'when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown'. In other words, when you were first delivered from Egyptian bondage God said to Israel: 'I remember the love you had for Me, like the love of one who was to be married to their betrothed'. Well, in Israel something tragic happened, and in Jeremiah 2 and verse 13 we read these words: 'For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water'. In other words, they were providing for their own satisfaction, they had grown to love something else more than the Lord.

Incidentally, isn't that so like the seed was sown in the soil among thorns, and Mark 4:19 says that as the thorns grew and choked it, that speaks to us of the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust or the desire of other things entering in and choking the word, and it becomes unfruitful. You do not love as you did at first! Solomon is a mighty illustration of this in 1 Kings 3:3 it says: 'And Solomon loved the LORD', and then later on in 1 Kings 11 it says, 'But king Solomon loved many strange women'. Jehovah was displaced in his affections by something else.

It's very interesting when we go to Timothy's epistles - and Paul wrote them to Timothy when Timothy was engaged in ministry in Ephesus - that Paul warned Timothy that the love of money was the root of all evil, which was tantamount to telling him: 'Make sure that the love of money never displaces your love and devotion to Christ'. The Lord Jesus Christ, did He not say that we can love family more than we love Him, and if we do that we're not fit for the kingdom of God. Paul the apostle in Corinthians says that we can love our husbands or love our wives, but in the day and age in which we live it's not that we should love them less, but we should not love anything at the expense of loving God! We should love all our loved ones more, but we should love Christ infinitely more! It's hard, and yet according to Christ's criticism of Ephesus it's necessary. Is there something in your heart that has taken the place of the Lord Jesus Christ? I love Cowper's hymn:

'The dearest idol I have known,

What'er that idol be,

Help to tear it from Thy throne

And worship only Thee'.

What about your enthusiasm that you used to have years ago for the Lord Jesus Christ? Could it be said of you: you do not love as you did at first? Has the fire and the passion, and the fervency and the ardour, has it gone? For the Ephesians - who knows, only God - but could it have been that the idol of their sound doctrine had taken the place of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? Therein lies a great danger, because orthodoxy costs too much when love has to go out the window. These Ephesians were like the pitbulls of doctrinal dogma: in the midst of their fight with false apostles, and in the midst of their right, correct doctrine, they lost their love for Christ, for one another, and for mankind as it was in the beginning of their faith.

So the Lord gives them this corrective command in verse 5, and it is found in three steps, and they are three R's if you like alliteration. The first is 'Remember', the second is 'Repent', and the third is 'Repeat the works you did at first'. Look at the first: remember. Now, somewhere along their history there had been a considerable drop off in the fervency of their love. Now, a generation earlier, when Paul the apostle wrote the epistle to the Ephesians, we see that they were commended for their love. Turn with me to Ephesians for a moment, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15, Paul says: 'Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers'. 'I'm rejoicing because I've heard of the great love you have'. Now, when we go to the end of the book to chapter 6, turn with me, verse 24, he says: 'Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity', and I think the implication is that they did.

Now not only did Paul commend them for their love, but he commanded them to grow in their love. Look at chapter 4 please of Ephesians, verse 2: 'With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love', love each other in your dealings. Verse 15: 'Speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ', converse with one another and deal with one another in love. Verse 16: 'From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love', edify one another, build one another up, encourage one another in love.

Now the Lord is saying to Ephesus: 'Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen', and that word 'fallen' is in the perfect tense, and it gives the sense of a tragic error of completeness - they had completely fallen from the heights that they had risen to! These Ephesians that the Lord Jesus is now speaking to are the second generation Christians to the first-generation ones that Paul wrote to, isn't that very interesting? Thirty or so years had passed since Paul ministered to the Ephesians - and, oh yes, these new Ephesians that the Lord is speaking to were serving the Lord in the manner that they had been taught by their forefathers, but they had lost the first love of the first generation Christians!

What generation of a Christian are you? I know how many generations of a Christian I am, and it is so easy to slip away gradually from our love as it was at first without hardly realising that it is happening! What is the answer to that? The Lord's corrective command to this church was: remember from whence you are fallen! Go back in your thoughts to those first days - and the Greek of 'remember' here is in the imperative present, that literally means 'keep on remembering', hold in your memory, never forget on a continual basis the love you once had for the Lord! Pray to God that it will come back again! Again Cowper grasps it:

'Where is the blessedness I knew

When first I saw the LORD?

Where is the soul-refreshing view

Of Jesus, and His word?

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!

How sweet their memory still!

But they have left an aching void,

The world can never fill'.

Now this is corporate. Let me ask the folk of the Iron Hall here tonight: is the Iron Hall what it once was? Now before you start pointing fingers at anybody - elders or members - are you what you once were? For our churches will be what they once were when we are what we once were. Repent from where you are fallen! Remember the heights, and repent is the second command. That is in the Greek aorist tense, which means 'a sharp break', now, change your mind completely about the way you think about your sin, and the way you think about the Lord. Would we be big enough in this meeting to have another meeting for repentance and confession if it was necessary? That's what the Lord's asking these Ephesians to do: remember, repent, and repeat! Do the first works, the works you did at first, the works that were motivated by your love - there's a lesson! Service must never be out of mere duty, though there are things expected of us as Christians, service must always be motivated by love.

But there's a fourth 'R' - remember, repent, repeat - but this 'R' is not a command, it's a threat: 'Or I will remove your lampstand'. Look at the verse, the end of verse 5: 'I will come' - the Authorised Version gives the sense of future, but the Greek actually is in the present tense, which means this - 'I am coming'. The Lord was approaching this church, and He is teaching the Ephesians that a church can continue only for so long on a loveless course. Now it's not speaking that they would lose their salvation or anything like that, that's an impossibility if you're truly saved - but what the Lord is saying is: 'You will cease to exist, I will remove your lampstand'. It's not just speaking that their testimony wouldn't be there any longer and they would be a cold church - no, no, no. It's not saying, 'I'm going to blow the flames out of the light of your witness', it says, 'I'm going to remove the lampstand'.

Incidentally, in the Old Testament the removal of Israel as the lampstand for God among the nations of the world was the actual physical removal of the people to the land of captivity, Babylon. We're going to see in a future week in Revelation 11 that the two witnesses that God sends, who are also called the lampstands, God takes them physically to heaven - He removes their witness. Now, do we consider that the Lord Jesus, as the Judge Priest moving in the midst of His church, walking among His people, has the authority to remove an assembly? This is serious stuff. Now, He may use a variety of means to do it - it's His prerogative, He's the High Priest - but here's the lesson we all need to learn here tonight: the only way to avoid it is to keep repenting. Repenting is not just for unbelievers to change their mind about sin and Christ, it is for us - every day of our lives as believers we ought to be repentant!

Where Ephesus, those ruins that you saw tonight, are now there is no church as was then! Did the demise of the city of Ephesus, perhaps, affect the church? Or was the manner of Christ's judgement the demise of this city of Ephesus, and the silting up of the harbour that you saw? Are you viewing it through Christ's eyes or the world's eyes? If you see it through Christ's eyes, He removed the candlestick. He used geographical, meteorological means. He can use political means, He can use theological means. Can I ask you again, whatever assembly you belong to, and particularly the folk here in the Iron Hall: can you see the outcome of Christ in our midst? Do you look objectively at our history and our present and see Christ at work, judging in His church? Do you see conditions prevailing in local churches today as the intervention of Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest Judge? Or do you look at it all from man's perspective?

Another commendation which we missed is found in verse 6: 'This thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate'. 'You hate what I hate', the Lord Jesus says, that's a wonderful thing. Now notice please that it was the practices of the Nicolaitanes that they hated, not the persons themselves - that's an important distinction to make. Now we can't be positive who these Nicolaitanes were, there are really two views on this generally. The first is that the church fathers testify that this sect was connected with Nicolas, who was one of the seven leaders in the church of Jerusalem who were appointed in Acts 6:5, and they say that he started teaching falsehood and people followed him into this sect. But there are other early writings that deny that, and of course Acts 6:5 says that Nicolas was a man full of the Holy Ghost - he was a good man, so I don't think that's the case. It may well have been a radical movement that taught immorality and various other heresy. But there are other scholars who believe the second interpretation, that when you dissect the meaning of this name it actually means 'conquerors of the people', or 'rule over the laity' - and they see a reference there to the clerical system. In fact, Archbishop Richard C. Trench himself stated plainly: 'Nicolaitanism is clericy'. Now it is true that not long after John wrote this book of the Revelation, Ignatius, a church father, counselled the church to look upon her bishop as they would upon Christ - and we see the beginning of something that has plagued the church of Jesus Christ for centuries.

Now if you don't want to pinpoint one of those interpretations, I would favour the second - we certainly can see both: that the Lord hates anything that divides His people! Heresy or clericy, Jesus hates it, the Ephesians hate it, and we should hate it too. Incidentally, what the Ephesians rejected, we will see in a later week, Pergamos embraced in chapter 2 verses 15. They fully imbibed the teaching of the Nicolaitanes. There is a lesson for us as an assembly and as churches of God's people: you don't do things because other people do them, or other assemblies do them. Though they lacked love, they didn't get rid of their orthodoxy - notice that? In fact, the Lord commended them for their orthodoxy.

Then fifthly and finally, the Lord makes a commitment to the overcomers among them. Now, again there's a wee bit of controversy here concerning who these overcomers are, and there are basically two interpretations. The first is that they are all believers, all people who have put their trust and faith in the Lord Jesus, in keeping with 1 John chapter 5 verses 4-5 that says: 'For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?'. Of course John is writing this book, as he did his first epistle - incidentally, I think that out of 27 references to overcomers in the New Testament, 23 of those are made by the apostle John, so it's a favourite word of his. Here he shows that those who overcome are those who simply have faith in believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

But there's a wee bit of a problem with that, simply because these promises to the overcomer seem to be conditional: 'If you do this, you will overcome'. It seems to be upon overcoming the conditions that are prevailing in these particular churches that they would be blessed. So the second interpretation is that these overcomers are the faithful and obedient children of God, and failure to overcome means a loss of reward - not salvation of course, but of reward. Now there's a problem I foresee with that as well, because the blessings that are given to each of these overcomers in the seven letters are all common as the heritage of every believer - you look at them when you get home. It might be up to you to make up your mind, but I think a satisfactory answer may be found in that I think these overcomers are what a true believer is expected to be in the assembly where these conditions prevailed. So in this assembly that had lost its love as it was at first, it needed to remember, to repent, to repeat the works they did it first, and they would know the Lord's blessing as evidence that they were true believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. For each church that may well be different, but it demonstrates their genuineness in churches that ultimately were a mixed multitude, as you will see next week, and from the parable of the wheat and the tares.

Incidentally, please notice the first three of these churches, the voice of the Spirit speaks to the whole church, and the voice of the Spirit speaks before the overcomer - and so the Spirit is speaking to everyone. In the last four churches we find the Spirit speaking after the overcomer, so the Spirit is speaking to the overcomers in those four last churches - which is like an implication that for the first three churches, they had a chance, but the last four hardly have any chance, and people in it need to listen up as individuals! That's really the message tonight. You might disagree with the odd point that I'm making tonight, and I'm sure many of you will, but here's the important question: if you were in any one of the seven churches, would you have overcome the conditions that prevailed? You see the lesson is: we must overcome where we are. There was only one church in Ephesus, probably, and they didn't have cars and buses and trains to, when they got upset, go to the one down the road! They had to overcome where they were! You don't hear much of that today.

Their reward was the tree of life in the Paradise of God, the Garden of God, Eden restored, which we find in chapter 21 and 22.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - October 2007

www.preachtheword.com

info@preachtheword.com

The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 5

" Smyrna, The Persecuted Church"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Turn with me to Revelation chapter 2, to what is the shortest account of the letters given to the churches - the second, that being to Smyrna. Verse 8 of chapter 2, reading through to verse 11 - 'Smyrna, The Persecuted Church': "And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall 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 a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death".

Now you will remember if you have been with us that in chapter 1 verse 19 we have a divinely inspired outline of this book of Revelation. John is told to 'Write the things which thou hast seen', that being the vision of the risen, glorified Lord as the High Priest Judge in the midst of His churches - and we find that in chapter 1 and verse 9 and following. Then he is also told to write 'the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter'. Now the things which shall be hereafter are from chapter 4 right to the end of the book, but the things which are are the things which were current to John in his day and age, that being chapters 2 and 3, the seven churches of Asia Minor. Of course, we noted that there were far more than seven assemblies in Asia Minor in John's day, and so these seven are selected by the Holy Spirit - seven is the number of completion, and so seven is representing the church age, the things which are now. So we have here a divine revelation concerning the church age. John was present in the age, we too are also.

So we are given a complete picture of the moral and spiritual history of the church of Jesus Christ. Now that can be understood in three ways, and let me remind you of those. The first is that that history is understood literally. We have to say that these seven churches were seven literal churches that existed in Asia Minor, those conditions were present in John's day. Not only are they understood literally, but secondly they are understood universally. What I mean by that is that they are illustrative of the good and bad conditions that will prevail in the church everywhere during every age of her existence. We did say last week that there is a marked resemblance between the seven churches here in Revelation, and the seven parables of the kingdom, mystery parables that we find in Matthew's gospel chapter 13. Incidentally, every one of these letters has the words spoken by the Lord that, 'Let him that hath ears to hear, hear', and those words were spoken in the mystery parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13.

Now I may have misled you last week by saying that these parables each corresponded to one of the seven churches, that was incorrect. I should have said that each of the parables really speak of some aspect of all of the churches during all of this church age. In other words, you can find the characteristics in each of the seven parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13 in each of the churches right throughout the whole of the church age. Smyrna - how is that relevant to them? Well, the Lord taught right throughout His whole earthly ministry that there would not just be a tribulation period that would be second to none in the history and prophecy of this world, but all churches throughout every age would face impending tribulation and persecution for their faith during the whole of the church age. The Lord Jesus said: 'In the world ye shall have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world'. The apostles agreed, Paul in 2 Timothy 3: 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution'.

Such a time would come for every church of every age, a time when believers would be separated from mere professors of Christianity because of the persecution and trial that would come upon them. That corresponds, incidentally, with a couple of verses from the parable of the sower - listen to them, Matthew 13 verses 20-21: 'He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended'. So you see how that's relevant, and also how the parable of the wheat and tares, and various other parables are relevant. Let me say, and this might go over some of your heads, that these seven parables in Matthew 13 really represent the external nature of the kingdom of God: how it is perceived by the world, that is professing Christendom in our age, during this church age - whereas the seven churches are the Lord Jesus Christ's view of how the churches actually are in truth and in spirit. Well, I'll leave that there, that is the universal aspect: these seven churches represent every church during every age in different aspects.

So there is a literal approach, there is a universal approach, and then there is a prophetic approach - that approach simply interprets these seven churches as being a preview, chronologically, of the history of Christendom from Pentecost right to the rapture of the church - each of these seven churches representing a distinct period. For instance, last week we thought about the church at Ephesus, and we saw that that was the loveless church, but it also was the post-apostolic church. It was founded by the apostles, and it transpired the period of the late years of the first and the early years of the second century. Generally speaking it was a praiseworthy church, but we see, as church history testifies, that already that post-apostolic church was beginning to forsake her first love. Then that brings us on to the church at Smyrna, understood prophetically as the persecuted church, the church from about the first century right through to the fourth century, the church that endured the persecution of various Roman emperors. We could call this church 'the martyr age of the church'.

Now it would seem incredible if such similarities with history were only accidental, but though that is the case, I have said in previous weeks that we should not press these analogies beyond their bounds. So tonight I want us to consider first and foremost the literal approach to this church at Smyrna, what it meant to the people, the Christians of this particular first century church that John is writing to. Then I want us to think of the fourth approach that I introduced you to last week, and that is the personal approach. This letter, as all the seven letters, has something to say to each of us as Christians. Notice verse 7a: 'He that hath ears to hear', in the singular, 'Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches'. It is for us as individuals to take heed to God's word, to Christ's revelation to each of these churches, and apply them to our own lives.

We noted last week that each of the seven churches, they are seven letters - with minor exceptions - that are organised in a general pattern. First of all we are introduced to a characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ from the vision that John received in chapter 1, the vision of Christ as the High Priest Judge in the midst of His churches. The particular characteristic that is introduced to each church is fitting when we consider the needs of that particular church. As far as Smyrna goes, in verse 8 you see that the Lord Jesus is introduced to them as, 'the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive'. If you look down at verse 10, you will see that the Lord Jesus is encouraging His people in Smyrna to be 'faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life'. The characteristic that is revealed to Smyrna is for their particular need, to stand firm in the midst of tribulation and suffering, and not deny their Lord. It is particularly applicable to these would-be martyrs.

A vision of Christ - I hope you will agree - is what we all need. But there is a particular aspect to the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ in His Great High Priestly judging ministry to the church that you need to see - I wonder what it is this evening? First of all we see this general pattern in the characteristic of Christ that is revealed, then secondly there is a commendation that is given to the church. In verse 9 we have it here to Smyrna: 'I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan'. All the churches, all seven of them, are given a commendation except the last, the seventh, the church of Laodicea.

Now often in the general pattern we find thirdly that there is a criticism of each church, but we see here that Smyrna has no criticism. The only other church of the seven which does not have a criticism is the church of Philadelphia, and that's very interesting - not only because it is praiseworthy that Christ doesn't find grounds to criticise them, but also when we consider that the church we studied last week, Ephesus, that had left their first love, has more praise than Smyrna. Indeed Thyatira, which we'll study in a couple of weeks time, has also more praise than Smyrna - and yet these two churches are two of the most criticised by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'll leave you to work that one out, but I think it's in the nature of our Lord Jesus - who is full of grace and truth - to commend first when He can, particularly those churches that He's about to critique.

There is no criticism, and there is no corrective command because there is no criticism - which is often the fourth aspect to these letters. But rather, instead of a corrective command, we have in verse 10 counsel given after the Lord's commendation: 'Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall 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 a crown of life'. Then, as in each of these letters, in verse 11 we have the final factor which is a commitment that the Lord gives to the overcomers of that church, a promise that He gives: 'He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death'.

We will look at each of these as we go through our study tonight, but let us look first of all at the city that is the city of Smyrna. Now Smyrna, as I've already said, is the modern day city in Turkey of Izmir, and it was an important seaport in the day of the apostle John. It was about 35 miles north of Ephesus that we considered last week. Now there is nothing known about this church of Smyrna, how it began, how things transpired in it up to this point that we find it in John's Apocalypse. Yet with all the persecution that had endured, we find that Smyrna endured, and there is still a witness and testimony to Jesus Christ today in Izmir in modern-day Turkey.

Now there are several things I want you to note about this city where this church was found. The first is: it was an idyllic city. Smyrna occupied a most attractive site in Asia Minor, in fact it was known as the 'lovely Smyrna, the crown of Ionia, the ornament of Asia'. Yet behind that physical facade of great beauty there lurked an evil, the Satanic opposition to Christ in the whole of Asia. Now that's interesting for us to note, because it certainly is representative of our society and world in which we live. Whatever the outward appearances of beauty and attractiveness might be, we've got to face the reality that outward appearances matter very little. We live in a world that is, generally speaking, against Christ - whatever it might say about Him. Smyrna was idyllic, yet behind it all there was something inherently Satanic.

Secondly please note that this was not only an idyllic but an industrious city. The name 'Smyrna' really means 'Myrrh', and Smyrna as a city operated a trade in myrrh - that is, the aromatic resin. They produced from that resin from the tree a gum that was often used for embalming dead bodies. It was an industrious city that was famous for myrrh. Thirdly it is also marked for its idolatry, it was an idolatrous city. It offered worship to the emperor through an imperial cult, and this cult, and indeed a large Jewish population, made life extremely difficult for the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ in Smyrna. None of the other cities of the seven cities written to here in the Apocalypse were so stained with the blood of the martyrs like Smyrna.

Now can I just pause there for a moment, because I think there is a worthy lesson for us to note: out of all the seven churches - which, let me remind you, are generally found in the same vicinity - only Smyrna suffered like this. Why? We could equally ask the question: why is it that some people, some believers in the Lord Jesus Christ indeed, suffer more than others? Why is it that the godliest of men and women seem to suffer more than others? Well, I have no answer to that, save to say that I think the answer lies deep in the sovereignty of God - but it's worth noticing. Smyrna suffered more than the rest of the seven.

So that is the city of Smyrna: it was idyllic with a Satanic undertone; it was industrious in the production of this aromatic resin, myrrh; and it was idolatrous in the emperor cult. Secondly I want you to note this characteristic of Christ that is revealed to the church at Smyrna. Verse 8 gives us that, the second half: 'These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive'. The first characteristic we have of the Lord revealed to Smyrna is 'the first and the last' - incidentally, which is a description of God that John, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, plucked out of Isaiah's prophecy in the Old Testament. It is a title for Jehovah that is being applied and attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ - hence, you see, He is God of God.

But the point, I believe, that is being made by the Spirit is that this God, who is the first and the last - look at verse 8 - is also the One who became flesh, the incarnate Son of God, and who literally, as verse 8 says, became dead. He lived eternally as the eternal Son, uncreated, eternally begotten of the Father - but He became dead, having been incarnated, going to the cross, dying as a sacrifice for sin, He entered into death voluntarily as a sacrifice for sins forever. Verse 8 says He became dead and, literally, 'He is the one who became dead and who lives' - presently He is living, for He rose again the third day in the power of an endless life, and He lives eternally and gives life to all who believe in Him. So in the midst of Smyrna's suffering, the vision of Christ that is given to them is of One who suffered, who died, who entered death, but who is victorious over it all.

First of all the Holy Spirit wants Smyrna to see He is the Eternal God - and, boy, if you're going through any form of suffering tonight as a Christian, you need to get a glimpse of Jesus Christ in His deity as the first and the last, the eternal God, and realise that the power of Christ can support anyone, at any time, in any circumstance. He is God! But secondly the Holy Spirit wanted Smyrna to see that though He is the eternal God, He went the same way as they were presently going. He went through a baptism of blood, their blessed and glorified Head was crucified - and in death He slew death, and became Master of it. Having been tested and tried, and lived and died, and rose again, He has now become a Great High Priest to those who believe in Him - and He can enter into the suffering of our infirmities because of all that.

The first and the last who became dead and lives - boy, how they needed to hear that, because what the Lord Jesus was saying to them was: 'You can have all my compassion, you can enter into all my companionship, because you are going the way that your Master went'. Are you hearing that tonight, suffering child of God? Of course, Smyrna had its own death and resurrection. Round about 580 BC the city was destroyed, and then in 290 BC it was rebuilt again completely. So there is an allusion there - the first and the last, the one who was dead and is alive - to their particular history. But Smyrna's name, as we have seen already, means 'myrrh' - and that aromatic resin was associated with death, the embalming of the dead. But the process of getting that resin out of the tree was something deeply symbolic to these suffering Christians in the church of Smyrna, because to get this resin an incision had to be made in the bark of the tree, the sap had to be allowed to bleed, and then that fragrant and bitter resin had to be produced through the wounding of that tree.

Prophetically speaking we are entering into a church period where, for 200 years, the church would be crushed by the iron heel of pagan Roman. As we look down this passage, in verse 10 it is prophesied that for ten days they would be thrown in prison, and would be tested and tried, and they would need to be faithful unto death. Now you might not know this, according to the history books there were 10 separate attempts by 10 separate Roman emperors to exterminate and eradicate Christianity from the Roman empire. The tenth attempt was by an emperor by the name of Diocletian, and that tenth attempt lasted 10 years! Christians during those 200 years or so were martyred, butchered, burned for Jesus Christ - and the church in Smyrna particularly typifies that prophetically speaking. They, like the resin that they represent, would be cut, bruised, wounded, crushed for Christ - but from that process of tribulation there would be a savour, and a fragrant smell that would ascend unto God that had never gone up before.

They were never as Christ-like as when they were suffering. Let's not miss that please, because our Lord Jesus Christ was the Man of Sorrows, the Suffering Servant of Jehovah. Incidentally, myrrh is always associated with Him. In Matthew chapter 2 we find that the wise men brought - what did they bring? Gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then when we travel from Bethlehem 33 or so years, we come to Calvary and He's hanging on the cross, dying for men's sins, and they reach up a sponge on a spear and try to give Him wine mingled with myrrh to dull the pain. Then we find Him dead, being buried, and Nicodemus, John gospel tells us, brought an embalming ointment of myrrh to prepare His dead body for the tomb. What suffering our Lord Jesus experienced from His birth, to the cross, to the tomb itself. Right throughout the Old Testament it is used - that is, myrrh - as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in His suffering. But there's something I want you to note: in the Old Testament, in Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 6, we read prophetically of when our Lord Jesus Christ will come again. He will be presented at that time with gold, and with frankincense, but there is something missing! The myrrh isn't there! Because when He comes again, Isaiah 60 verse 2 tells us, He will not be coming as the Suffering Servant of Jehovah, He will be coming as the Sovereign King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to judge, to reign, and to rule.

Suffering child of God, just like Smyrna, you need to see these characteristics of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great, the epitome, the pinnacle of all human suffering - and yet He is the divine, the first and the last, who became dead and now lives. Fix your eyes on Him, John tells Smyrna - that's what you need to do, for just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay. Those are the characteristics of the Christ revealed.

Now come with me to verse 9, the commendation of the church: 'I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan'. 'I know', first of all the Lord Jesus says to Smyrna, 'thy tribulation'. Now look at that word for a moment, for that word is the Greek word 'thlipsis' - it is the word which conveys the idea of pressing out the grapes until the juice comes forth. In classical Greek language it was used of a huge rock that would crush anything beneath it, and here the word is used in the singular, and that means this is a great tribulation that these people are experiencing - not the great tribulation, but a great trial, serious trouble. 'I know thy tribulation', what must that have meant for those Christians in Smyrna?

Then He goes on: 'I know thy tribulation and poverty'. Look at the word, there are two Greek words for poverty, the first speaks of having no surplus - in other words, you've got enough to get through but no more. That's not the word that is used here, it's the other word that means 'destitution', absolutely nothing! Not even enough to get through, sheer beggary! Now under the persecution of Domitian, who is the present emperor as John is living and writing, the worship of him as the emperor was compulsory upon every citizen. In Smyrna, therefore, it meant something to be a Christian - you had to stand up and be counted! You see, many of the trade guilds, a Christian couldn't be a member because they had pagan associations. If you were a Christian and were seen to be a rebel to the cause of the emperor, the likelihood was that your employer would get rid of you very quickly. Christians were seen in the empire at this time as atheists, because they did not believe in the gods of Rome. They were seen as traitors who were committing treason because they would not acknowledge that the emperor was lord. So it was very easy to arouse a rabble, and to go to a Christian's home and smash it up, and pillage his goods, and even confiscate his possessions in the name of Caesar and the empire. There's no insurance policies, and as a Christian you would be living in one of the wealthiest cities in existence in Asia Minor, let alone the empire, and yet like these people in Smyrna you would be destitute - destitute.

Yet with all their destitution, look what the Lord says in verse 9: 'but thou art rich' - thou art rich. They have suffered the loss of many things, indeed all things I would say, and though they were poor in this world they were rich in faith! Indeed, as poor, they were able to make many rich because of their faith. What others thought was wealth was actually poverty, and what people saw in their lives as destitution, according to God was rich. Now we're running ahead of ourselves, but if you turn with me to the church of Laodicea in chapter 3 and verse 17, they had the opposite said of them by the Lord Jesus - chapter 3:17: 'Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked'. They thought they were rich, yet they were poor! The church in Smyrna was poor, destitute, and yet in Christ's eyes they were rich!

Can I ask you a very searching question: have you got the values of Christ or the values of this world? Do I need to repeat that? Have you got the values of Christ or the values of this world? Do you value material things over spiritual? Incidentally, do you see suffering as an enriching experience in the Christian life? It's not the popular health and wealth gospel that you'll hear on the God Channel, but it's the Bible's teaching regarding suffering: it enriches the Christian's life and testimony! That is why, often, the godliest of men and women have suffered the most. Charles Stanley said: 'Jesus is specially the partner of His poorer servants' - why is that? Because to be poor, to be destitute, is to go the way that the Master went.

Can I remind you of a verse that you know well, 2 Corinthians 8:9: 'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich', that's the same word that is used here of Smyrna, 'yet for your sakes he became poor', that is the same word for destitute used of Smyrna, 'that ye through his poverty and destitution might be spiritually rich'. It's the way He went. It was the way He came into this world - Joseph and Mary, heavy with child, came to the inn, and an inn was a place where you were judged regarding what you had, and they were refused entrance. He was born in a stable. Then when Mary comes to bring the offering to the Temple, after birth she brings a working man's offering. The Lord Jesus for 30 years adorns the apron of a carpenter in His father's shop. When He begins His ministry, He has to ask a man for a penny. He borrows a boat in which to preach. The very tomb that His cold corpse lies in after His crucifixion is not His own! The moment He died, He left nothing behind Him, even His clothes were gambled for by the soldiers. Yet being destitute, He possessed everything! He holds the world in His hand!

Is that the way we are? Do you know what our problem is? Oh yes, we ought to be thankful for what we have here in the West, but I think all of us have got too rich - we have you know. I think we would be better men and women, myself included, if we had a lot less. Churches are often judged today on how much money they have, and how much clout they can bring - that's not how Christ judged this church: they were destitute, yet they were rich.

'I know thy tribulation, I know thy poverty, I know' - look at it - 'the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan'. Now that word for 'blasphemy' is the word for 'slander': 'I know those that slander you', and this slander was caused by Jews who called themselves Jews but were not. Now what that simply means is the same as what Paul said in Romans chapter 2, they were Jews outwardly in external religiosity, but they were not circumcised in their heart toward God. Isn't it amazing that these Jews, who in the Old Testament were called the congregation of Jehovah, are now being spoken of as a synagogue of Satan. Satan, incidentally, is the accuser of the brethren. Satan is the one who is inspiring these Jews to slander God's people in Smyrna. They may have been the Judiasers of the book of Galatians, but I happen to think that these Jews primarily were a group of folk who were rabble-rousers, who were just stirring up trouble towards these Christians.

Now historians tell us of the Jews' eagerness in aiding the martyrdom of Polycarp that you have heard about already. Polycarp was martyred on the Sabbath day, and even though it was the Sabbath the Jews gathered the wood for the fire - it didn't matter! You've got to understand why they were so antagonistic towards the early Christians. You see the empire was reasonably tolerant towards Christians initially, as they were to any religion providing they did not threaten the peace. They looked upon the early Christians really as a sect of Judaism, and so they were allowed to practise as the Jews were. But you see the Jews didn't like Christians being seen as part of Judaism, and so they created a fuss and often spread slander concerning the Christians. Now this is not a Jewish slander in the early church, but it certainly was one that went about, and that was that the love feast - when the believers broke bread and drank wine - was the practice of cannibalism, the flesh and the blood of the Lord Jesus. They slandered the church as cannibals!

Let me remind you: it doesn't matter that it says here that the Jews were bringing this slander, as many of the pagans often did. In all this neither the Jews nor the Romans were the real problem - we've got to see that. This had become a synagogue of Satan, Satan was the instigator behind this persecution. The seven churches at Asia that we have before us here in chapters 2 and 3, Satan is mentioned five times as being against the church! When are we ever going to wake up to the fact that Satan is real and alive in the 21st century, and he is working against us - and, incidentally, some Christians are working along with him! Ephesians 6:12 says: 'we wrestle not against flesh and blood', we've got to see beyond flesh and blood, and see that there are spiritual principalities and powers in high places that are orchestrating this persecution towards the church in John's day and in ours. Christ says, this is the message, 'I know thy tribulation, I know thy poverty, I know the slander of the synagogue of Satan'. Isn't it wonderful that they could know that He knew? Child of God tonight, He knows:

'He knows the storms

That would your way oppose,

He knows, and furthermore

He tempers every wind that blows'.

Their commendation: 'I know thy tribulation, thy poverty, and the blasphemy'. Fourthly look at the counsel to the church, verse 10: 'Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer'. Hold on a minute now! 'Thou shalt suffer'? Would they be forgiven in thinking: 'Lord, hold on a minute! OK, we've endured a lot so far, but the things which we shall suffer - future? No more, Lord! Is it not enough, Lord?'. Do you ever feel like that? There's no talk of deliverance here, there's no talk of the miraculous - whilst God can do it, it's not mentioned here - but Christ is telling them: 'You're going to have to go through more! You might be destitute, but there's more to come!'. It's frightening, isn't it? Yet please note, we don't find any complaining among them. I know I would be complaining, wouldn't you? But they were Christ-like.

Can I remind you of what Peter said: 'What glory is it if, when we be buffeted for our faults, we take it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, you do take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were we called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously'. Not a complaint! The Lord counsels them first to be fearless, 'fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer'. We fear many things, don't we? Yet they were facing things that we could understand them fearing. We need a reality check as we study this passage of Scripture tonight: these Christians were facing prison, they were facing death, and the Lord said to them literally, 'Stop being afraid!'.

Why should they stop being afraid? Well, all the reasons we've already given concerning the identity and power of Christ - but the reason specifically here is, Jesus says that the devil, the accuser, will put them in prison and try them for 10 days. Now imagine this for a moment: they are being put in prison for something they didn't do, they are being slandered - imagine if that came to your door tonight, and you were carried off to your local prison for something you didn't do, would you be afraid? If there was a rope at the end of it all, or an electric chair? Yet they were told not to be afraid. They were in the company of Joseph, and Jeremiah, and Paul, and Peter, all who had been behind bars for the cause of God. Now prophetically, as we've said, these 10 days mean something else, but literally they mean 10 days - and that is a limited time of intense persecution. So how could Christ tell them: 'Don't be afraid'? This is why: it will come to pass - after 10 days of intense persecution, it will be over. That might be cold comfort to us, but not to them.

I love that little phrase in the Scriptures, and I think some of you love it too: 'And it came to pass'. It will end, don't fear - though this might be instigated by Satan, it is controlled by Christ! Do you hear that? Often our sufferings do come from the devil, but praise God: our Lord Jesus Christ is in control. What He was saying to these believers was simply: he might rob you of your wealth, he might rob you of your health, he might rob you of your very life - but he can't rob you of your eternal riches! Maybe we have become so earthly minded that that doesn't matter any more. It mattered to them because they didn't have anything else.

Be fearless, then the second counsel was: be faithful. Incidentally, this is coming from the One who in chapter 1 verse 5 is spoken of as 'the faithful witness' - be faithful rather than renounce your faith Smyrnan Christians. I have really searched my heart today, I want you to search yours: could you be faithful unto death? Now let me add a caveat to that: I believe God gives grace to die whenever the time comes - that's maybe why I don't feel like being able to do that just now. Yet they were encouraged in anticipation. What are we: fearful or faithful? Now it might even be fearful - these people were going to die, but your fear might be even to be a witness with your mouth of Christ. We all know about spiritual lockjaw when it comes to speaking a word for the Saviour.

Fearful or faithful, if these believers were faithful unto death, they would receive a reward - look at verse 10. They would be given a crown of life. Now the Greek word there for 'crown' is 'stephanos', not 'diadema' - 'diadema' is a kingly crown, 'stephanos' is the laurel wreath that was put on the head of a victorious athlete. James 1:12 speaks of the same crown: 'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him'. Under trial, even to the point of death, there is a reward. Now there are several crowns that are reward for believers, and I haven't the time to go into those tonight, and I don't even want to because I want to labour on this one: will you, will I, get a reward for enduring trial, for suffering? Now it's not suffering with an ingrown toenail, this is suffering for the cause of Christ. You say: 'Sure, who's suffering for the cause of Christ today?'. I don't have time to elaborate on this, but I believe all of us, in some shape or form, should be suffering for the cause of Christ today. Maybe it's because we're not taking our stand? Will we be faithful or fearful? Will I? When it comes - and it's very close to the day - when to say that homosexuality is a sin and an abomination in the eyes of God, you'll be put in prison for it, will I say it? Or will we just keep quiet about it? That's what we're talking about here. The Lord Jesus says: 'You count the cost. Lose your life for My sake, and you'll find it'. This is the crown of life:

'Give thy sons to bear the message, glorious;

Give thy wealth to speed them on their way.

Pour out thy soul for them in prayer, victorious;

And all thou spendest, Jesus will repay!'.

Do we believe that? That the suffering of this age, this present time, is not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us - that was the counsel to this church. Be fearless, be faithful, and I will honour you! Fifthly and finally, the commitment to the overcomers in verse 11: 'He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death'. Again it's singular, 'ear', 'he that hears', there is an individual responsibility upon us all here tonight to think about the cost of discipleship. The magnitude is tremendous, because the one who lends their ear to the Spirit and what He says, might find himself or herself tested to the very point of death! That's more than a dander down an aisle, isn't it?

That death for these Smyrnan Christians could have been torture, then maybe the rack, perhaps out to the stake to be burned, or to be fed to lions. Now, if you were in this church, Smyrna, would you overcome? Remember who the overcomers are: in one sense they are those who, John says, are born of God and overcome the world, and it's our faith that gives us that victory - those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. This is a church where believers had to prove their faith by their devotion to Christ to the very point of death! If that was you, would you take the name of Christ? The Lord said that if they did, they would not be hurt by the second death - that is in the emphatic double negative: 'You certainly will never be harmed' - never!

Do you know what the Lord is saying? You as a believer-overcomer might have to face death, and pass through death, and a gruesome death at that - but not the second death! Is that the way we live? The second death, if you don't know, is what Revelation 20 describes as the lake of fire - it's separation from God for all eternity. Now all of us might have to die once, but some will die twice because they have never believed the Gospel. If that's you, my friend - make sure that you're believing in the Lord Jesus. Because the sinless Saviour died, can you say, 'My sinful soul is counted free; for God, the just, is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me'? Are you believing? Are you saved? Are you born again?

We've been to Smyrna tonight, the purifying lamp of affliction has caused the lamp of testimony to burn all the more brilliantly - but I want to ask you as we close tonight: what if, one day soon, you will be called to be faithful unto death? You know, it wasn't long after this book of Revelation was written that Polycarp, a bishop in Smyrna, 86 years of age, had a knock on his door. Then he was hauled before the courts of Smyrna to renounce Jesus Christ, and they said to him: 'Just say, 'Caesar is Lord', and we'll let you go'. He flatly refused, he never wavered, and said these words: 'Fourscore and six years I have served the Lord Jesus, He has done me no wrong, how then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?' - and he was burned alive. The present-day church of Smyrna told the world in April of last year that five Muslims entered a Christian publishing company, and killed three believers in the southeastern province of Malatya, Turkey - 300 miles from Antioch where believers were first called Christians. One of them was a man called Necati, and he was buried in his home town of Izmir, Smyrna. His wife says these words - wives, could you say this? - 'His death was full of meaning because he died for Christ and he lived for Christ. Necati was a gift from God, I feel honoured that he was in my life. I feel crowned with honour, I want to be worthy of that honour'. Do you know what the pastor said? I think at the funeral, he asked the world: 'Don't pray against persecution, pray for perseverance'.

No later than three weeks ago a dozen Christians in the Izmir district of Istanbul were attending Sunday morning worship, and were suddenly rounded up and taken to police stations. They were all accused of holding illegal meetings, and were fined, and the church in that Izmir district remains closed and sealed pending the results of a court case that could take months. Do you know something? The devil hasn't changed, this world hasn't changed, Jesus Christ hasn't changed - but the Western church has changed. In the south of Scotland there is a monument to two women. For their faith they were brought to the sea, sentenced to death by the stake - and the stake was put, for the older woman, way out in the ocean. She was asked to recant her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and she refused, and she died of drowning. The young girl whose stake was planted nearer the shore watched it all, and as the tide rose to her ankles, then to her calves, then to her hips, then to her chest, then over her head - a couple of soldiers ran and lifted the stake high, and said: 'We'll give you another chance, recant and live'. What would you have done? She refused.

'Fear not, be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life'. Next week, in the will of God, we'll look at 'Pergamos, The Compromising Church'.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - October 2007

www.preachtheword.com

info@preachtheword.com

The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 6

" Pergamos, The Compromising Church"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Now let's turn to the Scriptures, to Revelation chapter 2, beginning to read at verse 12: "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it".

May I direct you back to chapter 1 and verse 19 again, to this outline given to us by God of the book of the Apocalypse, the Revelation. John was told to write the things that he had seen, that is chapter 1, the vision of the risen Christ as the glorified Lord and Judge-Priest among the church. Then we see that he was also told to write the things which shall be hereafter, which comprises the visions from chapter 4 onwards, things that are yet future. But he was also told to write the things which are, that's what we have here, these seven churches are the divine revelation concerning the church age - a complete picture of the moral and spiritual history of the church.

We have seen in past weeks that that can be understood in three ways: first of all it can be understood literally, and the most important way to interpret these churches is in a literal sense; that is, these were conditions that actually existed in each of these cities where an assembly of God's people resided. Then secondly they are to be understood universally, that being that they illustrate the good and bad characteristics in churches everywhere in every age. We noted that there is a marked resemblance between the seven churches and seven characteristics that are shown in Matthew chapter 13 in the mystery parables of the kingdom - every church age will show those characteristics. Then we saw that not only is there a literal approach and a universal approach, but there is a prophetic approach. In our first study of the first church, Ephesus, the loveless church, we saw that that corresponded in church history to the post-apostolic age, just after the death of the apostles we see that doctrine was reasonably pure, but they had lost their first love, or the things they had loved at first. Then we saw last week that Smyrna, the persecuted church, corresponds in church history to a period between the first and fourth century where the church endured persecution under several Roman emperors, in fact ten in total - the tenth being under Diocletian, which lasted for 10 years.

Then we're looking this evening at the third church, Pergamos, which I've entitled 'The Compromising Church'. Now each of these churches say something to us by their name, their name means something that sheds light on the teaching of God's word. 'Pergamos' means 'thoroughly married'. Here we have a compromising church that, in a historical sense, really correlates to the church of the fourth and the fifth century - the church that lost its fidelity to Christ, and actually became allied to the world. 'Now how did that happen?', you might say. Well, you may have heard of a man called Constantine, and Constantine had a spurious conversion. There's a lot of doubt whether he was genuinely saved, and indeed he adopted, for the whole empire, Christianity as the state religion around AD 313. So there was a great influx of people who professed Christianity to get into the empire, and there was much incentive to do that, and with them they brought much of their pagan spiritual baggage.

But of course we are concentrating literally on these churches, and personally - we remember, don't we, that to each of these churches the Lord said: 'Let he who has ears to hear, hear'. There is a personal responsibility that all of us, as we study these letters, put into practice what they're saying to us as an individual. Now we did note, please, and let's look at it again, that with minor exceptions there is the same pattern to the outline of each of these letters. First of all, there is always given to us a characteristic or characteristics of the Lord Jesus that we have already seen in the vision of chapter 1. Here we have it in verse 12, the Lord Jesus reveals Himself as the one who has the sharp sword with two edges. Of course, that's derived from the vision in chapter 1, where it can be seen that this two-edged sword is coming out of the Lord's mouth. Now how was this fitting to the church? We remember that the very characteristics that were revealed to each of these churches are particularly relevant to the problems that are found in each church. If we look at verse 16, we can see what the relevance clearly is: He tells Pergamos, 'Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth'. In other words, if the Pergamos Christians didn't deal with the falsehood, false teachers, false doctrine and false living that was in their ranks, the Lord Jesus Himself would come and fight against those false teachers with the sword of His holy word.

So that is the characteristic of the Lord revealed to Pergamos, He has this two-edged sword. Then in each letter, with the exception of course of Laodicea, there is a commendation to the church, and here we have it to Pergamos in verse 13: 'I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth'. We'll look at that in detail in a few moments. Then each letter, thirdly, has a criticism - except, of course, Smyrna that we considered last week, and Philadelphia that we have yet to consider. In verses 14 and 15 we have the criticism of the Lord Jesus towards Pergamos, and we sum it up just with the first few words of verse 14: 'I have a few things against thee' - and we will see tonight what those were.

Then fourthly, each letter has a corrective command, except those who didn't need to correct because they were not critiqued. But Pergamos did need correction, and we find it in verse 16: 'Repent', or the Lord Jesus was going to take direct disciplinary action against this church. Then, as in each of the seven letters, we have finally a commitment that the Lord Jesus makes to the overcomers, overcoming the conditions that prevailed in each church. We have it here in verse 7, that the Lord promised to give to the overcomer hidden manna, and a stone with a new name written on it.

Now let's, as we have done in previous weeks, look first of all at the city where this church of Pergamos, or Pergamum, resided. Now it is the modern Turkish city of Bergama, it is 55 miles north of where we were last week in Smyrna, and in fact is the ancient Asia Minor capital of this region, and it was for approximately 250 years. So it was no mean city, indeed it was one of the finest cities that was renowned for many features. First of all it was a city of culture and learning. It was known as a common royal residence, there was within Pergamos a university - so it was a university city - it also owned a very eminent teaching hospital where medicine was practised along with various superstitious rituals. Pergamos also owned a prestigious and famous library that was second only to the great library in Alexandria, and that library in Pergamos contained 200,000 books. Indeed, history tells us that that library was later sent to Egypt as a gift from Anthony to Cleopatra. Incidentally, 'parchment', the word 'parchment' is derived from the name 'Pergamos', as the people of Pergamos actually devised their own particular method of producing parchment that ancient writings were scribed upon. Now the Egyptians invented it, but the people of Pergamos had their own particular method of production of it, and were famous for it.

Not only was it a centre of culture and learning, but we see very clearly that Pergamos was a centre of spirituality. You could describe it as like the Hyde Park Corner of ancient Asia, it was a marketplace for all kinds of false religions and beliefs. As you have already observed, high on the Acropolis of the city was an altar to Zeus overshadowing the whole of the populace. There was also, within Pergamos, a temple to Zeus, as well as a temple to Athena, and a temple to Dionysius - all pagan gods, and Dionysius, incidentally, is the same god as Bacchus, who was the god of drunkenness. One of the more renowned temples in Pergamos was dedicated to a god called Asclepius, and in that temple to Asclepius there was a prominent monument and object, that being the wreathed serpent. Now you're familiar with that, whether or not you realise it, if I just go a couple of slides you might recognize it now. On the left you have actually a statue of Asclepius from the Berlin Pergamum Museum, that statue actually from ancient Pergamum; and on the right you have what is the modern symbol for medicine. That is in fact where it derives - it's not from Moses lifting the serpent in the wilderness as many people suppose - but it is in fact from this pagan god Asclepius, who was understood as the god of healing. That is why Pergamos was considered to be the Lourdes of the day, and all sorts of people from all over the empire and indeed the world would come to find healing for various diseases, particularly from the god Asclepius. The supplicants would actually enter into the temple of Asclepius, and lie on the floor, and non-poisonous snakes would come and writhe over them - and they believed that by these snakes touching them, the god Asclepius might indeed heal them. So Pergamum was indeed a centre of spirituality.

A centre of learning and culture, a centre of spirituality, thirdly it was also a centre for the Imperial cult - that's a bit of an offshoot from being a centre of spirituality, but I want to highlight this in particular because it is highly relevant to what we're doing tonight. This was a centre for the Imperial cult that worshipped the Emperor of the day as divine. As early as 29 BC there was a temple dedicated to the worship of the Emperor in Pergamos. In due course there was a second temple added, and eventually a third. So you can imagine how all that has been said would make it very difficult for a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to live and operate in a place like Pergamos, especially when you consider that it was the centre in this particular region for the worship of the Emperor. Now what did that mean? Well, every single year every Roman citizen was required to go to the temple of the Emperor, to take a pinch of incense, to drop that incense on the altar, and to confess 'Caesar is Lord!'.

Now, obviously a true Christian could never do that - but can I ask you before we paint the picture of Pergamos any more this evening: how do you think you would fare if, by law, you were required to do that? What would your reaction be? That leads us on a little to the characteristic of the Lord that is presented to the church at Pergamos in verse 12, the one who has the two-edged sword. Now Christians who refused to go through this rite and confess that Caesar was Lord may well have to face the sword of the Roman proconsul, and here Christ is revealing Himself to these Christians, fearing persecution and perhaps even death, and gives them a salutary reminder that there is an even greater power than the power of the Emperor. There is a greater power than any earthly governor or government, that is the power of the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ!

Now I want you to note that the sword is an instrument of judgement. The sword, as it is revealed to us in chapter 1, is coming out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if the sword is for judgement, the mouth is for speaking, and that gives us a little bit of an indication of what God's method is in executing His will. God's method in executing His will is to use His word. In Genesis 1 God created the heaven and the earth through His word, and God said 'Let there be light', and there was light. When the Lord Jesus came as the incarnate Word and dwelt among us, His miracles, many of them were performed by just the speaking of a word: 'Arise and walk'.

The Bible tells us that there is a day yet to come when the church of Jesus Christ will be translated, those who are alive will meet the Lord in the air, those who are dead will go before them. The Lord will do this, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us, by descending from heaven with a shout. Indeed, in Revelation chapter 19 we shall see later on that when the Lord Jesus comes again to judge the world, He will come displaying a two-edged sword out of His mouth - point is, He will use a word, and in a word He will destroy all the enemies of God! But I think it is proper that we should note that at no point does the Lord Jesus ever strike a blow, not once, but His word does the work, even the work of judgement - and one day is coming when He will speak and vanquish every foe.

But please note here that this sword in verse 12 is not now coming out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus, it's just described in this manner: that the Lord 'has this sword', it's implied perhaps that it's even in His hand - but the thought is that He possesses it, and He wants these Christians in Pergamos to realise: 'I am in control of your destiny. Your life is in my hands, and no matter what the sword of Rome might threaten towards you because you will not comply to the worship of the Emperor, my sheep are in my hand and no man can pluck them out of there'. Isn't that wonderful? He's telling them, listen: 'I'm the one who ultimately will judge everything by my word', that is the characteristic He reveals to this church - and incidentally, let us not forget, He begins His judgement in the house of God. That's why we're here.

Then thirdly, in verse 13, after the characteristic of Christ is revealed we have His commendation to Pergamos: 'I know thy works, and where you dwell, even where Satan's seat', now that really should be 'throne', 'where Satan's throne is'. Now what does 'Satan's throne' refer to in relation to Pergamos? Some people say it was the altar of Zeus that was on that hill that overshadowed the city. Some say it was many, or indeed all of the temples to these various gods - some highlight Asclepius himself, whose symbol you see on the screen, and say: 'Well, a serpent would naturally have spoken to these believers in Pergamos of the devil himself' - and we see from Revelation 12 and 20 that the servant was a symbol for Satan. Was it this imperial cult that worshipped the Emperor, and that threatened death to anyone who would not confess Caesar as Lord? Which one is it? Which corresponds to Pergamos being Satan's seat? Well, I would say all of them do, particularly the emperor worship, but all of them signify how Satan was operative and instrumental in this city of Pergamos.

Now if you remember last week, we highlighted the fact that Smyrna faced the opposition of the synagogue of Satan - you remember that? Satan was coming to hound that church in a religious way, but now we are seeing that Satan is coming to the believers in Pergamos in a different ilk: he's coming through a regime. Now I want to remind you of a verse that is very familiar to most, it is found in Ephesians 6 and verse 12, Paul says: 'We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places'. Pergamos was a place where Satan's throne was, it was the administrative capital for this particular province as far as Rome was concerned, but I want you to see beyond Rome: there were principalities and powers, high spiritual realities that were working through the politics and the regime of the day, and so this wasn't just the Roman administrative centre of Asia, this was the Satanic administrative centre of Asia. It was where Satanic policies emanated from, indeed I believe that the primary aim of the devil at this point from this place was to attack the whole Church of Asia Minor.

Now we've got to remember something concerning the devil: he is not omnipresent, he can't be everywhere at the same time - that's why he utilises his minions, a hierarchy of demons in a network of activity. Some believe that Ephesians 6 verse 12 that I quoted really illustrates that type of rank among demonic spirits - but at this time it seems that the centre of Satanic operations was the city of Pergamos. Now historically we know that the original seat of Satan and idolatry on the earth was Babylon. In Alexander Hislop's book, 'The Two Babylons', one I would recommend for you to read, he details how the Pagan mystery cults at Babylon transferred to Pergamos after the death of Belshazzar, the Babylonian Emperor. So it moved from Babylon, moved to Pergamos, and incidentally Hislop traces how it moved from Pergamos eventually to Rome - and many of the trends we find in the Roman Catholic Church are owed to paganism.

The book of Revelation teaches us that there is a day yet to be when Babylonish mystery religion will be found in another political system, in another ecclesiasticism that will be found in the end times. I think we can see it today in embryo in ecumenism. Let me pause there for a moment: Satan's seat in Genesis was found in Babylon, the centre of idolatry. In the time when John is writing this letter inspired by the Holy Spirit, Satan's seat is found in Pergamos. It moved to Rome, eventually it will move somewhere else, but I wonder if we were to answer the question: where we think Satan's seat might be in the United Kingdom? What would our answer be? Does he have a centre of operations, an administrative centre from which he operates and influences? It's not hard for some of us to imagine where it might be - and before any of you say to me: 'Well, you have to remember that the powers that be are ordained are ordained by God', well that is correct, but you've also got to remember that they might be ordained by God but they're not inspired by God. Some of the Babylonish emperors themselves were chosen by God to discipline Israel, they were even spoken of as God's anointed, God's instrument, but they were inspired by the evil one himself. I think we can see through the administration of our government, even in our day and age, the inspiration of Satanic devices.

Well, Pergamos were to be commended, and in verse 13 we see that in the midst of such opposition and paganism the Lord Jesus commends them and says: 'Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth'. In the midst of such opposition they remained loyal to Christ: 'You have held fast my name, and not denied my faith, even when it meant death'. Now before we criticise Pergamos, as we will with the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to ask the question: could any of us, under such circumstances, hold fast to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and not deny His faith? Antipas did it to the point of martyrdom. We know nothing about this man called Antipas apart from what legend tells us - that he was roasted alive in a brazen bull - but we don't know anything more about him. But we know this much: the Lord Jesus Christ marked his martyrdom and his faithfulness as a witness to His name, and He even crowns Antipas with his own title, the Lord's own title that we find in chapter 1 and verse 5: 'The faithful witness'. That word 'witness' is the same word for 'martyr' that is designated to Antipas, and the reason why it's interchangeable here is simply because in these early days of Christianity, if you lived in a place like Pergamos or like Smyrna, the likelihood was that if you opened your mouth or displayed in your life a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ it would probably mean your death.

If that's what witnessing meant in our day and age, how many of us would be doing it? Sure we're not even doing it now, and it doesn't mean death! At the most it means a bit of an embarrassment! Yet here we have Antipas, do you know what his name means? 'Against all', I love that. Can I give you an illustration concerning Antipas that is actually taken from the prophetic approach to this church of Pergamos? It was during this particular period of church history that we're talking about, the fourth and fifth century, there was a theological controversy that was raging for over a hundred years. It was called the 'Arian' controversy, it was concerning false teachers who were casting doubt on the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The debate really went like this: is it just that the Lord Jesus was of like substance with the Father, or was He of the same substance as the Father? Now in modern Christianity that would be seen as splitting hairs, but in these early days it was a fundamental issue. Is Christ just like the Father, or is He of the same substance with the Father? In AD 325 at the Council of Nicaea in the South of France, the church there ruled that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Scriptures teach, was the same substance as the Father, God of very God. Now if that hadn't taken place, and they had decided He was just of like substance, the rest of Christian history would have been characterised by Unitarianism. Thank God that that never happened.

After that ruling concerning the deity of Christ, the teaching of Arianism stayed in the church, many were still espousing it. A godly man called Athanasius, who championed the fight for Christ's name just like Antipas, would not permit fellowship around the Lord's Table to anyone who was of the Arian persuasion. He was so strict in this regard that the emperor, Theodosius, commanded that Athanasius would admit these Arians to partake of the bread and the cup. Athanasius refused the emperor, and Theodosius reproved him sternly for what he saw as insubordination to his emperor, and Theodosius said these words: 'Do you not realise that all the world is against you?'. This was Athanasius' answer: 'Then I am against the world'. Do you think that's a coincidence? Of course it's not! Prophetically speaking this church at Pergamos were commended by the Lord for not denying the name and the faith of the Lord Jesus, the name that is high over all in hell, or earth, or sky; the name of the one who is God's Son and God the Son. It's no coincidence that during this church period this Arian controversy was raging, and with all the faults that there may have been in Pergamos - praise God, they held fast to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Christ still needs men and women like that, like Luther - who, when all the known religious world was against him, could say: 'Here I stand, I can do no other, my conscience is captive to the word of God'. I think we have lost that today. We need to defend Christ's name and Christ's faith. What a commendation they were given by the Lord Jesus, and yet this letter is not without criticism.

So come with me, fourthly, to the criticism of the Lord Jesus. Now you remember that the first church we considered was Ephesus, and there was one cause for censure that the Lord Jesus brought to them: 'You have left your first love'; but here to Pergamos He says, 'I have a few things against you'. Now, incidentally, let me say that if you look at the screen you will remember that we are saying prophetically that in the history of the church - though the church seems, in an external sense, as the kingdom of God, to progress and even appears to expand just like the parable of the mustard seed that grows into the great tree - the true spiritual condition of the church declines, particularly in relation to purity and doctrine, that being the parable of the leaven.

The Lord Jesus says to Pergamos: 'You have those there' - and before we look at the doctrine of Balaam, and the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, just note this fact that the Lord is saying to this church, 'You have those there'. Now that means there were true Christians in this church, and there were false Christians. I think that's the case in every church, through each period of church history - by the way, that is the parable in Matthew 13 of the wheat and the tares. This church in Pergamos allowed these false teachers to fellowship with them, to stay there, and the Lord was telling them: 'If you don't discipline them and put them out, I'm going to come with my sword of judgement, and I'll do it' - that's the parable in Matthew 13 of the dragnet, when the Lord is going to separate those that are His from those who are false professors. It's interesting, isn't it?

'You have those', look at the verse, verse 14, 'who hold the doctrine of Balaam' - now what's that? We have to go into the Old Testament to find out what that is. Let me recap the story for you from the book of Numbers. The Moabite king called Balac was afraid that Israel would do to the Moabites what they did to the Amorites, so he came to one of the prophets of God by the name of Balaam, and he hired him. Incidentally the New Testament talks about 'the way of Balaam', Peter talks about it, and it's simply covetousness. Just as Balaam served the Lord for filthy lucre, the way of Balaam is to be covetous in the work of God. That's not what we have here, it's the doctrine of Balaam, and Balac hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel. Incidentally, Jude verse 11 talks about the error of Balaam, which was supposing that you could get God, as Balaam thought, to be forced to curse the children of Israel - that's the error of Balaam, that's not what we have here, we have the doctrine of Balaam. What is the doctrine of Balaam then? It's simply this, now come with me: Balaam couldn't get God to curse Israel, so he decided he would give King Balac a plan to corrupt Israel. Now stay with me, we read in Numbers 25 that at the place called Shittim Israel's consecration and separation unto God was completely obliterated when the Moabite women committed fornication with the Israelite men, and they ate flesh offered to idols - that's what we have here in verse 14.

'The doctrine of Balaam', look at it, 'who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock', a trap, 'before the children of Israel', look, 'to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication'. The devil couldn't use Balaam to curse God's people, so he used him to coerce God's people! He couldn't corrupt them, so he courted them into compromise and powerlessness through these Moabite women. As a result they became powerless, now here is a lesson for all of us as children of God and as churches of God, that if the devil can't get at us as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, he'll come as a serpent with subtlety and beguiling. Here we have both in Numbers and in this church in Pergamos what is effectively the breaking down of their holy separation unto God and consecration to His service. We have an encouraging of union with the world.

Now let's come back to Pergamos for a moment. You know, it wasn't easy living in Pergamos, you hadn't much of a social life if you were a Christian. The reason being: there was so much paganism and idolatry, that the meat that was being offered to idols that would be ate by the priest was in such surplus that it had to go to the markets to be sold cheap. So in all likelihood, if you went to someone else's house, or a public festival of some kind, you would be eating meat offered to an idol. The Bible taught that that should not happen. The Christian should not eat meat offered to an idol - and that might even involve fornication. Now it could in a literal sense, because in the temples where this meat was offered there were vestal virgins, and fornication with them was seen in those religions to be an act of worship, and there may have been professing Christians that got involved in that. Whether that was the case or not, one thing is for sure: there was spiritual fornication going on. Because many of these believers, perhaps, were eating meat offered to idols, they were displaying spiritual infidelity toward God, they were betraying God!

Maybe you think that's a bit strong, just over eating a piece of meat. The fact of the matter is, in James 4 and verse 4 we read: 'Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God'. You see, this was a problem. Paul in the Corinthians letter says that he wanted to offer the Corinthian church as a chaste virgin, betrothed and engaged to the Lord Jesus Christ, and if he was going to do that they had to be pure. Now in the book of Revelation, later on we encounter a religious system that is described as a defiled harlot - but there's also the pure spotless bride of Christ, that's what we're meant to be! In Acts chapter 15 verse 29 it is recorded that at the Council of Jerusalem the Apostles and the church there ruled that, among several other things, believers were not to eat meat offered to idols, and were not to commit fornication - but teachers were coming into the church at Pergamos and saying: 'Ah, you don't need to worry about that, that's old hat now. It doesn't do any harm! You don't need to be exclusive in your separation from the world'. Do you know what they were doing? They were challenging the teaching of the Apostles - that's what we're having today in the church of Jesus Christ. People are challenging the principles of New Testament apostolic doctrine, they're watering it down in whatever way you like: critical ways, cultural ways, ways that reflect our modernity today, or our pluralism.

Looking at this from a prophetic approach, we see that this became a problem in the fourth and fifth century - because Constantine professed conversion, he made the whole empire Christian, supposedly. All of a sudden it was popular to be a Christian, all you had to do was be baptised and then you were given a white robe and a few pounds - that was any incentive to someone to get 'saved'. What was happening was that the church was in the world and the world was in the church, and universally this has always been a problem! Whether it is union with the world socially, or union with the world sexually that we have here, worldliness has always been a scourge in the assemblies of Jesus Christ! Socially, let me say, we must beware of any philosophy that says that we must be like the world in order to reach the world - did you hear that? I don't believe we should put unbiblical barriers in the way of people getting saved - no, no. I think there's more that we could be doing, even than we're doing here in the Iron Hall, to see people saved - but don't you swallow this lie of the devil that we have to get like everybody in the world and appease their appetites and attitudes to get them saved!

We need to be socially aware, and we also need to be sexually aware. The doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock, an entrapment, before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. This entrapment used seductive women. Now I'm going to be near the knuckle just now. There shouldn't be any seductive women in the church of Jesus Christ. Whether it is in a literal sense or a mental sense, no man should be seduced because of what you wear, sister. But in a literal sense: we need to be aware that seduction, sexually, is still the honey trap of the devil. I believe personally that the church of Jesus Christ is suffering from a secret epidemic that we're all in denial about.

Let me give you a few statistics. There was a survey done very recently in the United States that found that 5 out of 10 Christian men in America are addicted to pornography, 5 out of 10 - 2 out of 10 women were too. Does that surprise you? I know some of you folk, dear help you, you can't even turn a computer on! You don't realise what's going on out there in the world, but I'm telling you what's going on: 50 percent of men in America who regularly attend a church said they were addicted to pornography - 50 percent, 20 percent of women said the same. There was a recent University survey done in universities, I believe, in the United Kingdom that found that only the cream of Roman Catholic students and only the cream of evangelical students went into marriage with virginity intact. That just tells us that Christians in the 21st century church are bogged in sexual sin - and there are probably several men, young, middle aged, and older, who have a problem with this. All men generally do, and all men have to come to a crisis experience in their life where they put it to death! And that then has to go on daily after that.

The teaching of Balaam. Life was hard in Pergamos, I know life is hard today - you look everywhere, and it's before you, and the temptation is there - but the message is from the risen Christ: 'It is possible to overcome! Not be overcome!'. Listen to what John said in 1 John 2:14: 'I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one'. We have all faced problems similar to this, but it is possible to overcome. People are saying today: 'It doesn't matter if you go out with a non-Christian, or even marry them for that matter', and the unequal yoke doesn't seem to count any more - whether it's in marriage, or incidentally in business - 'Ah, that's old hat now, unequal yoke in business? Who talks about that any more?'. It's an unequal yoke, and 2 Corinthians 6 and verses 14-18, which is often quoted regarding churches, has got nothing to do with leaving one church to go to another, it's got everything to do with the world: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty'.

Whatever happened to holy separation from the world? Whatever happened to holiness? Then we wonder in the next thought why we are blunt instruments for the Lord, why we're not seeing things done for Christ in our day and generation. Though outwardly we might have all the doctrine right concerning the deity and humanity and all the rest of our Lord Jesus Christ, but there could be the teaching of Balaam among us, and it's all secret. The Lord Jesus criticised them also for the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes - I'm not going to spend as much time on this, save to say that the Ephesians, you remember, opposed this doctrine. Isn't it interesting that what the Ephesians opposed, now Pergamos is embracing? That, first of all, shouldn't be a reason to judge doctrine or practice by what another assembly is doing. We are to judge things by the two-edged sword of the word of God. We are seeing Christendom at large embracing things that God hates, and God has said is an abomination in His sight. We sit and watch the news, or read the paper, and we are amazed week after week at what we see going on in the name of Christianity! Why should we be surprised? Here we have it: it will happen until the Lord comes. Now, that knowledge makes a lot of people indifferent, but it shouldn't. It should make us determined to keep our doctrine, our teaching, and our lives pure in the sight of God.

The Nicolaitanes may have been involved in immorality, but it seems that the primary aspect to this doctrine was the starting to divide God's people into two classes: clergy and laity. Prophetically speaking this happened during these centuries, and eventually evolved to the point where these men who were separating themselves as priests were pronouncing absolution over the people of God, forgiveness of sins, taking confessions, sending people to heaven, damning people to hell! Christ says: 'I hate it!'. He hates immorality, He hates heresy, and a good judgement of where you are spiritually before the Lord Jesus tonight is: do you hate what He hates, or do you love what the world loves? You see, people talk about 'grey areas' and confusing questions, but we are moving so far away from this simple Christian holiness that we find in the New Testament: 'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for if you love the world the love of the Father isn't in you'.

Then we have a corrective command in verse 16: 'Repent'. Now the only way these folk could repent was to put these people out. Phew! How often does that happen? This is New Testament discipline that the Lord Jesus prescribed in Matthew 18. Now there are principles that have to be operated, and they have to be operated correctly, but the only way these believers could repent was to put these false teachers out. This was the Lord's ultimatum: 'If you don't put them out, I'll come and fight against them myself!'. You remember a couple of weeks ago we were thinking about how the Lord ministers in the churches, and sometimes maybe when an oversight doesn't do what they ought to do, sometimes the Lord can come in and do it - whether it's taking a person home to glory, or maybe even sending them to hell, who knows? Taking them off somewhere else - but the Lord is moving about in His church. We are seeing Him here in a way, perhaps, we're not used to seeing Him. He is writing these letters, as He inspires them through John, but we're seeing Christ hating and fighting. He says: 'Repent, change your mind about your sin, change your mind about your false doctrine, and change your mind about Me. You as a church, Pergamos, should not tolerate evil!'.

In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul says: 'Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened'. What Paul is really saying is that we need to use the two-edged sword to rightly divide doctrine, to sharpen our lives, and ultimately to judge ourselves by the word of God - judge everything, weigh everything by the balance of the Bible. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged! The Lord says to Pergamos: 'Sort it out, or I'll come and sort it out myself'. It's serious, isn't it? Then in verse 17 we have the commitment to the overcomer. He will be given hidden manna and white stone. Now you remember that when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, God provided this bread from heaven - 'manna' means 'What is it?'. It was to replace the onions and the garlic of Egypt, and it was a type of Christ, wasn't it, being fed in the wilderness? It is being given to the overcomer here, and it might speak of heavenly food - remember that these believers were being told not to eat of the meat sacrificed to the idols, so they would have to be fed by something. Remember the Lord Jesus had the disciples coming to Him, and saying: 'Take something to eat, Master', and He said, 'I have food that you do not know of'. Be faithful to Christ and He will feed your soul - but this is hidden manna. The manna in the wilderness wasn't hidden, it was out on the ground. Now if manna is a type of the Lord Jesus, as it is in incarnation, coming as the bread of God from heaven, could the hidden manna be the fact that there is a Man in the glory now, a glorified Man in Christ? He is able to supply all that we need in the church and as individual saints. It might also mean the future glory that we will share with Him. Age upon age and eon upon eon will reveal new glories of Christ to those who have overcome, and enjoy His splendour in heaven.

Not only are they given hidden manna, but a white stone. That has been explained away in many comparisons. In this ancient age the white stone was often a token of acquittal in a legal case, to say that you were not guilty; or it was a symbol of victory in an athletic contest, to let you into the celebrations afterwards. It could also be an expression of welcome to a guest from a host - but whatever it is, it seems to be a reward to the overcomer, expressing individual approval of them by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They are even given a new name upon it! Acceptance with God, and a title to glory!

Now here's my question, and I'm finished tonight: Pergamos was the compromising church. The Lord Jesus didn't say: 'Get out of that church and go to some other place', did He? He said: 'Overcome where you are'. Would you have overcome? Would you? Are you overcoming now? Or are you wedded to the world? I was speaking to our young people on Saturday night on the subject of alcohol. We used this illustration to end, and I want to use it tonight. It is very very simple, but profound: the moon was eclipsed one night, and it said to the sun, 'Why do you not shine on me the way you used to?'. The sun said, 'I'm shining on you the way I always do, but the world has come between us'. The world has come between us. May God bless His word to all our hearts tonight.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - November 2007

www.preachtheword.com

info@preachtheword.com

The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 7

" Thyatira, The Corrupt Church"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Now let's turn to the text of Scripture, Revelation chapter 2 and beginning to read at verse 18. This is the longest letter of the seven, to the church at Thyatira, which we have entitled this evening as: 'The Corrupt Church'.

Verse 18 of Revelation 2: "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 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 every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches".

Now we have noted in previous weeks that, with minor exceptions, the pattern of each of these seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor are the same. Each of them begins with a revelation of a characteristic, or characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He had been revealed in the initial vision in chapter 1 of the book. The church at Thyatira receive a vision that is no exception to that rule. For, as you note in verse 18, the Lord Jesus is revealed as 'The Son of God, who has his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass'. If you were to turn to chapter 1, you would see that that description is derived from verse 14, the end of the verse, and the beginning of verse 15. It is very fitting for this particular church, as we shall see. If you cast your eye down to verse 23, you see that the Lord Jesus, with these flaming eyes of fire, is searching the reins - the kidneys, literally - the inward parts and the hearts of the people in the church: 'And I will give unto every one of you according to your works'. He is, in chapter 1, the Judge-Priest moving in the midst of the churches.

So that is how He is revealed, with the characteristic of these all-seeing eyes, and these judging feet of brass. Then secondly we have the commendation - now the only church that doesn't receive one is the seventh, that is Laodicea. In verse 19 the Lord commends them: 'I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last', the last works that you're doing, that is, 'is to be more than the first'. It's amazing, as we shall see in our study tonight, how the Lord Jesus Christ commends this church. We saw in our previous week that this follows the same pattern as Jehovah through the prophets and the Old Testament writers in the book of 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, because there Jehovah commended even evil kings before He condemned them. It's an interesting thing when we see that the Lord Jesus, if He can find anything to commend us for, will do that first, before He condemns us. I wonder do we follow Him in that example?

Now from this commendation in verse 19 you would be forgiven for thinking that all was well in Thyatira - but, as we shall see very graphically, this church was corrupt in that it was tolerating grievous sin and error in its midst. We shall learn, I hope, a very valuable lesson tonight, and that is simply: much activity can often camouflage great iniquity. Activity in a local church can be hiding, covering up deep and grievous sin.

So we have the characteristics of the Lord Jesus, His commendation, then thirdly - according to the pattern of these letters - we have a criticism. The only two churches not to receive a critique from the Lord are Smyrna and Philadelphia, but Thyatira does. In verse 20 we see it: 'I have a few things against thee', and we shall look into those things in detail in a few moments.

Now in the other letters the fourth feature is often a corrective command, but here it is a bit stronger than a corrective command: Thyatira receives condemnation. It seems that for many in this church there was no return. In verses 21 to 23 we find that condemnation. He gave this church, and this woman in it, space to repent of her fornication, but she repented not. In verses 22 and 23 we find the outcome of that. Then the fifth feature is a commitment which we have in each of these letters. In verses 24 to 29, the end of the chapter, to the overcomers, to those faithful remnant, small they may have been, who were standing according to truth both in their profession and in their lives.

Now you will remember from chapter 1 and verse 19, from the divinely given inspired outline of this book of the Revelation, that what we're dealing with here in chapters 2 and 3 is not primarily what John has already seen in his vision, not what is yet to be from chapter 4 on - which is future, prophetically speaking - but the things that are: these seven churches that actually existed in the province of Asia Minor. There are seven of them, even though there were many more than seven churches in Asia Minor, seven being the number of completion and perfection. What we have here is a divine depiction concerning the church age - if you like, a complete picture of the moral and spiritual history of the church of Jesus Christ. So each of these seven churches have been hand-picked by the Lord Jesus because they are representative of prevailing circumstances that will be in the church of Jesus Christ throughout our history.

Now we noted, and I think it's worthy of note again, that these churches can be understood in three ways. First of all, literally: these were seven literal churches in these seven literal geographical cities. Secondly, these churches are also understood universally, in that they illustrate the good and the bad in churches everywhere in every age. Seven similarities can be found in the seven mystery kingdom parables in Matthew 13, which also show us characteristics that will be in the kingdom of God displayed in the external church during the church age - very similar characteristics to what we're seeing in these seven churches of Asia Minor. So there is that universal approach, but then thirdly there is the prophetic understanding of these seven churches.

Let me remind you of how we have witnessed this. First of all in the church at Ephesus, which of course was the loveless church, we saw that this represented the post-apostolic Church, the church as it was coming up to the end of the first century and entering the second, the church that was generally speaking sound in doctrine but was starting to depart in small ways, but had lost the things that they had loved in the beginning. They ceased doing the work they had done at first. Then we saw secondly the church at Smyrna, the persecuted church, and that represented prophetically the church from the first to the fourth century that underwent persecutions from various emperors. The third church we looked at was Pergamos, which was the compromising church, and you remember 'Pergamos' means 'married', and this was a church historically speaking that had lost its fidelity to Jesus Christ, and had become allied with the world. This is the church of the fourth and the fifth century. Through Constantine's spurious conversion, Christianity became the state religion - it was married to the state, and in AD 313 that took place and many adverse spiritual effects came with it.

Now Thyatira that we're looking at tonight is the corrupt church, and the word 'Thyatira' literally means 'a continual sacrifice'. So prophetic scholars have seen, I believe correctly, that in the prophetic approach to this church we can see the rise of what we know today as Roman Catholicism, around the sixth and seventh century right through to the Reformation around the 16th century. Now you will note, as I have already pointed out to you, that this church was commended for her devotion and her zeal, and it has to be said that - like many false cults and religions - Catholicism has indeed shown much devotion to their cause and zeal in the execution of it. There were many godly saints during the Middle Ages who faithfully followed the Lord and sought to serve in a continual sacrifice of service. Even those in error could teach us a thing or two regarding how they are serving their particular cause. Yet Roman Catholicism can be seen in Thyatira in the sense of a continual sacrifice through the abomination of the mass. Of course, this was an invention historically of the Roman Catholic Church, the teaching that in the sacrament of the mass, through the broken bread and the poured out wine, there is a perpetual sacrifice over and over again of the Lord Jesus Christ in His death. That is why a priest is necessary - and so they believe that, through this continual sacrifice, we in some way can merit some grace.

So you can see how you Thyatira, the name 'continuous sacrifice', is very apt if we are to liken this church historically and prophetically to the church of Rome. Jezebel could also picture the system, the whole Romish system that has called herself 'the mother and mistress of all churches'. Eventually we will see in the book of Revelation, near the end, about chapters 17 and 18, that eventually this church of Rome will embrace many other false religions and will be found in what is called there 'the great whore of Babylon' that God will judge. Now that might seem very harsh language to some of you, but it's in this book of Revelation, Jesus Christ has revealed it to us. As Jezebel was in Thyatira, Rome has accommodated many elements of paganism, just as this prophetess in Thyatira did. She was encouraging the believers there, as we shall see, to commit fornication and to eat meat offered to idols. When Constantine made Christianity the religion of the state, many pagans brought their heathen baggage along with them. Catholicism down through the years has been notorious for marrying pagan rituals and principles to what they have called Christianity.

Let me give you two examples of that. Idolatry: the second commandment says, 'You shall not bow down to an idol'. The church of Rome has enshrined idol worship as a part of their devotion, they have even omitted the second commandment in the Ten Commandments. How do they get ten then? They split number 10, coveting, into two. A second way they have adopted pagan practice is the worship of Mary. The worship of Mary as the mother of God, setting her up as a co-redemptress, and indeed a female deity almost, to be worshipped and revered. That type of practice can be seen down through history in many pagan religions, right back to Babylon itself. Incidentally, the Old Testament character of Jezebel that we will touch on a little bit later, she was guilty of combining the worship of Jehovah with the worship of the god Baal. God condemned her for it, and Ahab her husband and the whole nation for going after her ways, because God Jehovah will not share His glory with another. He will not be worshipped as a graven image.

Now we shall see that Thyatira and Jezebel herself were given a chance to repent, and the Roman Catholic Church during the 16th century, at the time of the Reformation through godly men like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, John Knox, Wycliffe - you know them as well as I do - they were given an opportunity to rediscover the truths of Holy Scripture: that salvation is through grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone; and the Bible alone, sola scriptura, should be our only rule of faith. Largely speaking they did not heed that clarion call, and that is why we are left with an apostate system in Roman Catholicism which is far removed from the simplicity of what we find biblical Christianity is within the scriptures.

A Roman Catholic once asked a bright little Christian schoolgirl: 'Where was your church before the days of Henry VIII?'. Catholicism would say that Protestant evangelical Christianity didn't exist before Henry VIII. The little girl was wiser than he thought: 'Why sir', she said, 'It was where yours never was - in the Bible'. That's not to be offensive, but it is to be real. We must judge everything by the word of God, and we see from this church at Thyatira that the Lord Jesus was going to judge it, and the Lord Jesus has judged and will judge its prophetic counterpart, the Roman Catholic system. Indeed, the Lord will judge her children, that's what the passage says, those who choose to come under her influence in ecumenism. The message is, and here I leave this prophetic approach: we as the church of Jesus Christ need to get back to the Bible.

I want to labour not the prophetic viewpoint, but the literal viewpoint, as in previous weeks, and the personal: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church'. Now let's look first of all, as we have done each week, first to the city in which this church is found, the city of Thyatira. It, as you can see from this map, is about 40 miles southeast of Pergamos. It is the modern day Turkish city of Akhisar, and it was relatively speaking an insignificant city to have the longest letter of these seven written to it. Incidentally, if I could just revisit the prophetic approach, that's an indicator to us that these messages reach far beyond the immediate circumstances of each of these churches. This was an unimportant city, and yet such a long letter is written to it.

It is first mentioned as a city in the Bible in connection with Paul's first conversion on the continent of Europe. When Paul was in Philippi preaching the gospel, the Bible says that a businesswoman from Thyatira, a seller of purple named Lydia, was born again by the Holy Spirit. The Lord opened her heart. She was a seller of purple, Thyatira her home town was famous for its trade in purple dye, and indeed the textile industry in general was well known. As you have already heard, there were more trade guilds in Thyatira than any other Asian city, and a trade guild is simply the equivalent of a trade union today. Now that is very important, and I want you to remember that because it is significant in our understanding of the predicament that the Christians in Thyatira faced. Now we do not know from the Scriptures how this church at Thyatira began, and it may well have begun by the witness of Lydia who was from Thyatira. It is possible that she went home to her town and shared her faith, and gossiped the gospel. Now if that were the case, that is very ironic, isn't it? This church may have begun through a godly woman, and it eventually is destroyed by an ungodly Jezebel.

That is the city of Thyatira, let us move on to the characteristics of the Lord as He is revealed in this vision to the church at Thyatira. Verse 18: 'These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass'. The only time the Lord Jesus is described as the Son of God in the book of Revelation is here to the church at Thyatira, that must be significant. Why only here? Well, can I remind you of the words of Hebrews chapter 1: 'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son'. The means by which God has communicated His full and complete revelation of Himself is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Now why is that significant? Well, Jezebel claimed to be a prophetess. This woman in Thyatira was claiming to have received revelations from God, and was teaching under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So Christ comes to the church of Thyatira and reveals Himself as the supreme source of all divine revelation, the Son of God by whom God has revealed Himself to this age.

His eyes are seen to be as flames of fire, piercing vision into the hearts of men, and into the bowels of this church. He sees all, He sees all as it is, the all-seeing, omniscient eyes of the Son of God. Now I don't know how you view things in your life, in the life of your church. Maybe you are satisfied with your view of your life, and your view of your church - I wonder how the Lord Jesus Christ views it all, how He sees your life and mine, how He views your church and mine? You see, these fiery eyes see through sham, hypocrisy, pretence, camouflage, playacting! How does He see you?

Then He is described as the Son of God having eyes of fire and feet of brass, and we saw in previous weeks that that speaks of judgement, brass refined in the fire. These feet are for walking, so He is walking in judgement in the church at Thyatira. So let's put it all together as He is revealed in His characteristics: this Son of God knows everything, this Son of God who knows everything sees with these eyes of flame and fire into the depths of truth, and this One is moving to judge the church at Thyatira. It's an awful picture, isn't it? It is the awfulness of Christ in the midst of the churches. Now listen: I don't think we really have a grasp of this. The Lord Jesus Christ is now in the midst of His church. This is how He moves in the midst of corruptness, as the Son of God who knows all things, with eyes of fire that see all things, with feet of bronze that judge all things. He came to Ephesus in this judging way, and said: 'I will remove your lampstand unless you repent!'. He came to Pergamos with a sword out of His mouth, and He says: 'Unless you deal with the false teachers teaching the teaching of Balaam, and the teaching of the Nicolaitanes, I will come and fight against them with the sword of my mouth'. This is the awfulness of Christ in the midst of the church.

Here we find the Lord Jesus Christ is coming, and He says in verses 22 and 23 that, according to how people have followed the teaching of this Jezebel, He will cast her into a bed, 'and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death'. Is this how we view the Lord Jesus? Maybe we need to refocus on how the Lord Jesus is operating within the church of Jesus Christ in our age, particularly among churches that are corrupt.

Those are the characteristics as He is revealed to Thyatira. Now come with me to verse 19 where we have the commendation: 'I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first'. Now Thyatira had much evil in it, and we shall see that in great detail in a few moments, but Christ looks first of all at what is to be commended! Now what would you think of a church that was doing the type of things that Thyatira was doing? A woman was teaching, taking a primary role, but she was teaching the Christians to commit fornication and to eat meat offered to idols. If I were to ask you now, after the meeting tonight: what do you think of a church like that? You would say, 'It's not a New Testament Church at all'. Well, can I ask you: did the Lord Jesus Christ get it wrong? For as He addresses this church here before us in verse 18, He addresses it to the church in Thyatira - the word is 'assembly' - of God's people. Now I grant that, as with the parables, the mystery parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13, there is a mixture of wheat and tare. Profession is not the standard by which Christ judges His church, but possession. I'm sure that many of these people were not genuinely converted - and yet the Lord Jesus addresses it as an assembly.

There's a lesson I think I taught you a couple of weeks ago, and it's simply this: none of us have a right to judge anyone or any church, none of us, because we are not omniscient, we don't know everything. Now, of course we must judge righteous judgement according to the word of God, but we have no reason nor right to condemn anyone - unless they have completely rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have no right to say that they're not an assembly; that's not given to us, that's given to Christ. The Lord didn't get it wrong, and His strongest commendation of all the seven churches, believe it or not, is given to this church. Now, I have got a bit of work in trying to work that out, and I think you will have too! But those are the facts, and we are the ones have to do the work.

He commends them for their work, they were a busy church - boy do we need that in these days! We need to be busy for the Master, work because the night is coming. There were no bystanders, there were no uncommitted persons, there were no hangers-on, there were no people sitting on their hands, resting on their lees, everyone was in it and at it - hard working! The Lord commends them for their love, their charity. They loved! Now we have to take this at face value, that this love was genuine, otherwise they wouldn't have been commended for it. We must therefore assume that they loved God, they loved Christ, they loved fellow believers, they were loving the lost, they were loving the truth of God in some capacity at least - and when you went into this meeting at Thyatira you would have felt that love, the affection would have been almost tangible. It was a nice place to be. Now we need that, we could learn a thing or two from Thyatira. The church should be a welcoming place where we love one another and are known by the world that we love one another.

They are commended also for their service and their faithfulness in service. That word 'faith' in the Authorised really is 'faithfulness', it means endurance, their stickability. We need this, in service for Christ we're not to be of a flash-in-the-pan mentality, that we start a work this day and then give it up the next because we haven't got what it takes to follow through. We are called to be faithful and endure, as soldiers of Jesus Christ, great hardship. We need that in these days. Now look at the end of verse 19, they are commended because their last works were greater than their first - now what does that mean? They are progressing, they are an advancing church, they are doing more now for Christ than they ever had - and we need that today because the church, in the West at least, largely speaking, is in decline.

So they have beaten us already on all those scores. They are, as far as we have gone in this passage, outstanding as a church. Now recall the church at Ephesus as the Lord writes to it, they have left their first love, they have ceased to do their first works - that can't be said at Thyatira! They are doing more than they have ever done, and they're still loving one another and God - that's something! Yet even though, through all their activity and all their charity, Thyatira appears to have the picture of ecclesiastical health, there are putrefying sores deep in the body of this assembly. There is a cancer that is eating this church's life from the inside out. In verse 20 at the beginning the Lord says: 'I have a few things against thee', and these x-ray eyes of Christ are seeing things that you or I could never see or uncover - what a lesson! What is the lesson? I believe it is this: few people realise how things really are in the churches. Now we might think, and even pastors and elders might think that they have got it sussed, and have weighed up circumstances very well; but let's face it: all of us can only see things on the surface. A church might seem to have an effective ministry, it might even be growing numerically, it might be filled with activity and charity, and it might be going from strength to strength - but it might be like Thyatira, corrupt to the core.

Can you just imagine, let's not forget - because we're in biblical exposition each Monday night, we could forget that these are letters. As this letter, if they had letter boxes, fell through the letterbox and onto the mat, so to speak, of the church in Thyatira; and it was opened by one of the overseers and taken - what do you think the shock would have been when it was read on the Lord's day? I tell you, if it had come to some of our churches, it would never have got a hearing! I don't think it would have been read! It was so far removed from what people thought was the reality, but it was inspired by the all-seeing Christ, and it was telling them that their great activity and charity was all a cover-up for a great deal of sin! Do you know that? That activity can cover a multitude of sins? You know, I have a conviction of my own, and I don't know whether you'll share it with me, but I think we're all too busy today - even too busy in the work of the Lord. Now I know some of you might think that's not possible, but sometimes our overactivity is hiding the fact that most of us are spiritually anaemic and biblically illiterate because we're not spending any time at the Master's feet. That great old hymn that we don't sing much these days:

'Take time to be holy,

Speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always,

And feed on His word'.

Listen to the second verse:

'Take time to be holy,

The world rushes on;

Spend much time in secret,

With Jesus alone'.

The third verse:

'Take time to be holy,

Let Him be thy Guide;

And run not before Him,

Whatever betide'.

The last verse:

'Take time to be holy,

Be calm in thy soul,

Each thought and each motive

Beneath His control'.

Activity can be a great camouflage for the way your spiritual life really is. The Lord Jesus didn't judge this church on their activity. Now come with me, for we must move on from the commendation to the criticism, for the greater amount is given to this. Verse 20 - now though love is vital, 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us that clearly, the Lord is saying that no amount of love, no amount of sacrificial work can compensate for the tolerance of evil. In verse 20 the Lord says: 'I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest', you tolerate, 'that woman Jezebel'. Now you remember that Ephesus was criticised by the Lord because she was weak in love, but strong in judging false teachers; whereas Thyatira is growing in love, but is too tolerant in judging false doctrine and immorality in her midst. Now there's a lesson for us all: both extremes are wrong, both extremes are wrong! We need a biblical balance: unloving orthodoxy, you know these cold, conservative, unkind, fundamental Christians, and there's not a look of love on their face, or a word of love on their tongue. We want to avoid that extreme, that's probably the extreme we are in danger of here. Then there's the opposite extreme to uncaring, unloving orthodoxy, and that is liberality of love, loving compromise that is so loving that it embraces everything, even error.

Listen to the balance of the Bible, it is found in Ephesians 4:15, we are to speak the truth in love. Wonderful, isn't it? Speak the truth in love. This church tolerated this woman Jezebel - and I don't believe her name literally was Jezebel, who would give that name to a child? It meant the same in those days as it does in ours, for this was a character from the Old Testament. The name, I believe, is signifying the character of this woman who was literally in this church. Her claim is seen in this verse, she says she is a prophetess - the Lord doesn't give her that title, she has given it self-appointed to herself. Now let me say the New Testament Church refers to prophetesses, but never are they teaching publicly in the local church. Yet this woman Jezebel, claiming to herself the prophetic gift, is actually teaching, functioning in the New Testament assembly, teaching the word of God. The result is given here: it's seduction, the Lord says 'She has seduced my servants'. Now seduction simply is being taken from something that is good to something that is evil, from something that is right to something that is wrong, from something that is true to something that is erroneous. This self appointed prophetess teaching in the assembly was doing this.

Now why was she given the name 'Jezebel'? Well, Jezebel in the Old Testament, as I've said, was a character who was a Zidonian princess that married Ahab, the king of Israel, the Northern ten tribes. It was through Ahab's wife, Jezebel, that idolatry was introduced to the Northern Kingdom. It was through Jezebel that the prophets of Jehovah were slain. Jezebel inhabited 850 prophets of Baal in her own home. She caused the murder of Naboth to get his vineyard. The Bible says she stirred Ahab to be one of the most wicked kings of all Israelite history. Listen to 1 Kings 16: 'Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him'; 1 Kings 21, 'There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up'. Elijah prophesied concerning Jezebel that she would die in the portion of the field of Jezreel, and dogs would eat her flesh.

Why was this woman called Jezebel? For several reasons: one certainly is that it was Ahab's weak leadership as a man king that allowed the evil woman Jezebel to adulterate the nation. The weak leadership in the church at Thyatira among the male overseers was permitting this woman to do what apostolic teaching had forbidden her to do - what was that? One: to teach as a woman. Now I know that I'll get no awards from the politically correct movement for saying this tonight, but I'm standing on the Bible, not on what is popular. The Bible clearly teaches in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12 that women are not to teach, in a public capacity, the whole assembly. Now let me clarify that: women missionaries are evangelising, women Sunday School teachers are not met in the assembly when they're doing it - an assembly is not a building. We've got to get away from this, this is not the house of God, you're the house of God! God's Spirit dwells in you, so when women are teaching women, that is not the assembly meeting. I'm sorry if that offends you, but that's the Bible. But when God's people are all met together as the assembly of God's people, that is forbidden, that women should teach.

So there was a transgression there, but secondly it was not only the fact she was teaching, but she was claiming in her teaching that she was inspired as a prophetess - and that was a big problem, why? Because Jude verse 3 tells us that the faith was once and for all delivered to the saints, that means that every revelation that we need has been given to us in the Lord Jesus and the Apostles, and we have the apostles' doctrine in our hands in the New Testament Scriptures. Yet here in Thyatira, only 30 years after the Apostles, this woman was claiming that her revelations superseded the apostolic authority of the word of God - that was the problem. Now, what relevance has that today? It has an awful lot of relevance, because Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, wrote a book called 'Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures', and she said that she had the key to understanding the Bible as it never had been understood before, and it was in her book. She was a liar and a false prophetess, and she was inspired by the devil. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, claimed to receive tablets of gold that nobody could find, that were strangely taken back to heaven and nobody had seen, and he interpreted and translated it and it became the Book of Mormon, which incidentally has also a subtitle as 'Another Revelation of Jesus Christ' - there isn't another one! He was an impostor, and a liar, and a false prophet - just like this Jezebel!

Now how did she get away with it? Well, she got away with it the same way as Joseph Smith got away with it, Mary Baker Eddy, and false prophets and prophetesses today. She probably was beautiful, she most likely was very intelligent and articulate, she had a great personality as a gifted speaker I'm sure - and the people were gullible and swallowed it all. Now, you might think that is very condescending to many followers in cults and religions today, but that's the long and short of it. You hear people saying: 'Oh, but they're so kind, they're so charismatic, they're so attractive, they're so good, they're so gifted - they couldn't be wrong!' - don't be so gullible! God's word says that the angels of Satan, his emissaries and apostles, will come as angels of light. I remember studying in school at history that all the women in Germany loved Adolf Hitler - now that's a generalisation, I know, but he was a very charming man you know, very charming but very evil. Don't be gullible.

Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20 says: 'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them'. This woman seduced these believers, what to do? To fornicate, to eat things sacrificed to idols, they were ignoring the apostolic decree in Acts chapter 15 not to do those two things, among other things. They were ignoring 1 Corinthians 6 to flee fornication, they were ignoring 1 Corinthians 10 to flee idolatry, and this woman was teaching that these Scriptures don't apply any more the way they used to. She is saying to these believers: 'You're too rigid! The Bible doesn't need to be taken so literally now'. Now listen to me tonight: you beware of anyone who tells you that the New Testament apostolic doctrine doesn't apply today!

That's how she seduced them - let me give you the prime example, I believe, of how she did it. These trade guilds, trade unions, and you had to be in them to make a living, to be in a job, to have a business - and now and again, from time to time you'd be invited to a social function, and usually that social function would be in the temple of a pagan deity. There would be a big slap up meal, the meat you would be eating at the table would have been offered to the idol, and then around were the vestal virgins - and once the drink got in, the wit went out, and before you knew it that gathering could become an orgy of immorality that would be interpreted as great worship to that pagan deity. These Christians were faced with commercial suicide: they either went to these social gatherings, or they lost their livelihood and became destitute. Builders, owners in the textile business, tradesmen - to refuse the social circuit was the end of their career!

Now, Jezebel comes in with the answer: 'You don't need to be so tight! You're so rigid and legalistic - be sensible! You have a wife, don't you? You have a couple of wee children, you have your family to think about. We're entering the second century now, we've moved on from all that stuff! Anyway, how do you expect to win these people for Christ if you're going to be all standoffish with that attitude?'. In a brilliant way she convinced many of these believers to separate in their mind the spiritual and the secular. Now you grasp that tonight: she convinced them to have one set of principles for church, and one set of principles for work; one for the assembly, one for the office. You can understand how that was successful! How people embraced it! But do you understand how dangerous it is? I'll tell you why: because it wasn't long until this error developed into what we know as Gnosticism, which was a dualism. Now let me not confuse you: a dualism was the separating of the spiritual and material, and these false teachers were saying that everything that is material is wicked, so go away and live immorally because your body is going to be destroyed, and the only good thing is the spirit - but even if you live an immoral life in the body, it cannot affect the good that is in your spirit.

That was beginning to be taught in the church, propagated: commit immorality of any kind, it will not affect your spirit nor your standing before God - that's what these Christian teachers were saying. Now, see the graciousness of our Lord in verse 21, He gave them space to repent - which she didn't. I wonder is the Lord speaking to someone in our meeting tonight, and He's giving you time to repent and you haven't done it yet. This is not, by the way, something just for unsaved people, this is something for Christians and the church of Jesus Christ. They would not repent, and so there was a condemnation in verses 21-23, and you will note there three 'I wills' that the Lord speaks. In other words, He is saying: 'If you don't deal with this woman, I will, I will, I will!'. He says: 'I'll give her a sickbed, a bed of tribulation in place of the her bed of lust. I'll limit her movements and her teachings, and those who have committed adultery with her, both literally and metaphorically in spiritual error, they will be thrown into that bed as well - a bed of great tribulation for people endorsing this falsehood'. 'I'll kill her children, adherents to this falsehood, with death', it says - and that word is 'pestilence', 'Unless they forsake her and escape from her deeds. I'm going to do this', look at the verse, 'I'm going to do this so that all the churches will know that the Lord is watching, and the Lord rewards and judges according to deeds'.

I'll tell you, this is serious stuff: this second generation of Christians in the church at Thyatira had fallen into what is called here 'the depths of Satan', verse 24. They should have been in what 1 Corinthians 2 verse 10 calls 'the deep things of God revealed by the Spirit'. Let us bring that into a modern comparison today: is it possible that Christians know more about the world than they do about the word? Possible? Is it possible that believers practise their freedom in Christ by their indulgence in all sorts of immorality? Is it possible that they express their liberty in the Spirit by licence in sin, and they say 'Well, I'm spiritual enough'? They don't say it openly of course, but: 'I should be spiritual enough to handle a wee glass of wine beside my dinner, it'll not corrupt me'. I'll tell you, this is a big problem in the Christian church - and I know I'll get shot down for saying this, but I don't care - because many middle-class Christians that grew up in Christian homes where there was no drink, have never ever seen what drink can do. They think, 'We can handle it. I can go to the clubs and be a Christian - it's a witness, even though I can't talk because nobody can hear. I'll not get tainted, I can go and watch a film, and watch things that are tantamount to the immorality of Jezebel - but I can discern, you know, that that's not the way to live. I could listen to music that talks about all sorts of immorality, and it doesn't affect me'. The Lord Jesus says it does! Stay away!

Jezebel's teaching is: 'You can live like the world and not be affected. You can have their social life, you can have their sex life, and still be in fellowship with the Lord Jesus and around the Lord's Table'. Horatius Bonar said: 'I looked for the church and I found it in the world. I looked for the world and I found it in the church' - that was Thyatira, the corrupt church, is that the church today?

A commitment is given finally in verse 24 and following to the end, to the overcomers, the rest: 'As many as have not this doctrine'. Praise God there's a faithful remnant, there was a faithful remnant in the church of Rome down through the years, there were faithful people that were outside the church of Rome in mountains in Italy and various parts of Europe, and they weren't tainted by the false doctrine. God has a faithful remnant, even in corrupt churches. Do you know something? Sometimes He needs the faithful remnant to turn to, and so that is tantamount to saying to you: the first thing to do is not run, the first thing to do is stand for truth. A lot of you are good at getting up and walking out when things don't suit - that's not the way it's done. If you've got a case on the authority of this book, you've got cause to stand, cause to stand.

This faithful remnant were told: 'I'm not going to put any other burden on you', look at the verses, 'than to hold fast what you already have been told until Christ comes'. Now what had they already been told? The apostles' doctrine, Acts chapter 15, listen: 'It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well'. They needed to get back to the book - boy, that's what we need today. The easy way was Jezebel's way, it's the same today - the easy way is the popular way, the trendy way, the neo-evangelical way, but it's the wrong way for it wasn't Christ's way!

Here we have to the overcomer the Lord Jesus saying, verse 25: 'Hold fast till I come'. He's going to reward the church, the faithful ones. Part of that reward will be reigning with Him in the millennium, verses 26 and 27, quoted from Psalm 2. The Lord Himself will come, who is described here as the Morning Star. In chapter 22 it shows us that that is the Lord Jesus - do you know this? The morning star, literally, in our skies appears three hours before the sun rises. Now the Jewish nation are waiting for the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ their Messiah, to rise with healing in His wings - that's His coming in judgement to judge the Jewish enemies. But here we have the Morning Star rising three hours before the Sun rises in righteousness - this is the Lord Jesus Christ coming back for His people to reward them, and part of that reward will be reigning in the millennium. In verse 29 notice these words, 'He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches', are coming after the promise to the overcomer, and up to now in the other letters it has come before. The point is that it's as if the Lord only expects these overcomers to listen, things have got so bad in this church, that it's only going to be them that will heed.

Now can I ask you tonight as we close: could you have overcome in Thyatira? Could you? Let me ask you again: if the Lord Jesus Christ were to come tonight, would you be found to be faithful and true? I'm not asking you are you saved - now that's important, nothing is more important - but if you're a Christian, are you ready? If the Morning Star should rise tonight before we reach our homes: are you ready, are things right? What I mean is: would you be happy for the Lord Jesus to come now, right now? Would things be right in your business dealings? Would things be filled in right on your tax forms? Would money you owe be paid? Would things be right in your marriage? Would things be right with your children or your parents? What about your dealings in private? If you judged the way you have been living the last few months, the last few weeks or days, would you be happy if the Lord Jesus came?

I never cease to be astounded with the reply of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, when he was asked this question: if the Lord was to tell you you were going to die this time tomorrow night, what would you do? He said: 'I would do the same things I did today'. How many of us could say that? Or will it be: 'By and by, when I look on His face, I'll wish I had given Him more'.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - November 2007

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info@preachtheword.com

The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 8

" Sardis, The Dead Church"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Now let's turn together to Revelation chapter 3, as we read those verses from verse 1 to 6 concerning Sardis, which we have entitled 'The Dead Church'.

Verse 1: "And 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 a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches".

With minor exceptions, we have noticed as we have studied these churches thus far that there is a pattern in how the Lord Jesus addresses each of them. First and foremost He is revealed to each assembly with particular characteristics that are fitting for that assembly. For instance, here in chapter 3 verse 1, the Lord Jesus is revealed to Sardis as 'the one who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars'. Of course, we saw that each of these characteristics is derived from the vision that we have in chapter 1 of the glorified, risen Lord Jesus, as the Great High Priest and Judge of the church. Of course, we see in chapter 1 verse 16 that the Lord Jesus is seen there as having the seven stars in His right hand. We also see in chapter 1 verse 4 that the seven Spirits of God are described as being before the throne of God.

So the characteristic of how Christ is revealed to Sardis is particularly fitting to their need. They are, of course, as we shall see in great detail tonight, 'the dead church'; and Christ is revealed to them as the one who has the life-giving Spirit, the seven Spirits of God depicting the perfection and completion of God's Spirit - He having all that we need to succeed and triumph as Christians and as the church. Sardis is lifeless, and Christ is the one who has the life-giving Spirit. Now, if these seven stars are angels - as I believed them to be several weeks ago - or indeed if they are elders and overseers of this assembly, it doesn't really matter: these seven stars seem to represent God's administrative control in the church. So I believe Christ is being revealed here as the one who has the seven Spirits of God, possessing the seven stars, as the answer to Sardis' problem of lifelessness. What is the answer? The answer is spiritual ministry and spiritual leadership in this church. That might seem to be a strange answer for deadness, and we will tease that out a little bit later on - but it is clearly how Christ is revealed to them: they needed spiritual ministry and spiritual leadership.

Then secondly in each of these churches we found a commendation - however, there is no commendation to the church at Sardis, except perhaps in verse 4 where we read that there are a few names where a few people have been faithful and not defiled their garments. That's the only thing that Christ can find to commend in this church in Sardis. Thirdly we have found that each of these churches, except of course Smyrna and Philadelphia - the persecuted church, Smyrna, the faithful church, Philadelphia - we have found in the others a criticism or a condemnation. Here we have it in Sardis in verse 1, at the end of the verse, 'I know', Christ says, 'thy works, that thou hast a name', or 'you have a reputation that you live, and are dead'. Then we see in verse 2, the second part, another criticism: 'I have not found thy works perfect', or complete, 'before God'. So Christ is accusing them of having a name that they live, and yet they were dead, of being a superficial church. Their beauty, in other words, was only skin deep. He also accuses them of having much activity, 'I know thy works', and yet they were falling short of what Christ really wanted for them. Their works were not found perfect, or they were imperfect in the sight of God.

Then fourthly we find in this church a corrective command. If you look at verse 2, at the beginning of the verse, the Lord Jesus tells Sardis: 'Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die'. Then in verse 3, at the beginning of it, He tells them to 'Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent'. Now in verse 2, if you look at that phrase 'Be watchful', it literally could be translated 'Waken up!'. Then in verse 3, after they are told to strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die, they are told to remember what they had received and heard. Now that word 'remember' is in the present imperative, which literally means 'keep on remembering what you have heard and learned'. There is great danger, isn't there, that we forget what we already know. Then they are told to hold fast to those things, and again that is in the present imperative, 'keep on holding fast to the things that you can remember and have learned'. Then their third instruction is 'Repent', now that is in a different tense, the aorist imperative, which literally can be translated 'Repent now, once and for all, make a new start, a new beginning'.

By the end of the studies of these seven churches we will have seen that only two churches are not called upon to repent, the other five are. The two that aren't are the church at Smyrna, the persecuted church, and the church at Philadelphia, the faithful church that we will look at next week. Every other one is commanded to repent! Keeping in mind that what we have here in these seven churches is a depiction of the church age in general, we can see clearly that there is a need, a great need right throughout the existence and history of the church, for the church to keep repenting. I will spend time on that later on.

The consequences of not repenting are found in verse 3, the second half: 'If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee'. Now many believe that this is speaking of the return of the Lord Jesus, because of the similar phraseology used, but I do not believe that is what it means. I believe, like the other churches preceding it, this is speaking of the Lord Jesus coming as the Great High Priest Judge to this church, and dealing with their problems personally Himself. Then fifthly, as with the other churches, we find in verse 5 a commitment that is given to those who overcome the conditions that prevail: 'He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels'.

Now in chapter 1 verse 17 we have a divinely inspired outline of the book of Revelation, and we see that we find ourselves in chapters 2 and 3 dealing with the things that were in John's day - as it says, 'the things that are'. But we also see that there were seven churches - and there were many more of course in Asia Minor - but Christ picks out seven as representative churches, we believe, to depict the whole of the church age from the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and the birth of the church at Pentecost, right to the second coming of our Saviour. So we have here in these seven churches a divine revelation concerning the whole period of the church age, a complete picture, if you like, of the moral and spiritual history of the church.

Now that can be understood, as we have seen, in three ways. Let me remind you of those: first of all, that can be understood literally, and it must be understood as literal churches - seven in total - in Asia Minor...tonight's is Sardis. It was a literal church, in a literal geographic location, with literal Christians in it, with these literal circumstances prevailing. Secondly these seven churches can be understood universally, that meaning that they are illustrations, if you like, of good and bad conditions in the church, and churches everywhere in every age during the church period. The conditions are similar to those found in the seven mystery kingdom parables of Matthew 13, traits that will be in every church through every age of this dispensation. Thirdly these seven churches can be understood prophetically. We saw in our first study of the first church at Ephesus, which we entitled 'The Loveless Church', that that spoke in a very graphic way of the post-apostolic church, the church just after the apostles that was beginning to lose its first love. They were quite sound in doctrine, though there was a little departure already entering in, and yet they had lost the things they loved at the beginning, and they needed to do those first works again.

We saw secondly that the church at Smyrna, which we called 'The Persecuted Church', very graphically painted a picture for us of the church between the first and the fourth century, the church that underwent various persecutions from various Roman emperors. The third church, Pergamos, 'The Compromising Church', Pergamos meaning 'married', spoke to us of the church that had lost its fidelity and had become married and allied to the world. We learnt there that the church during the fourth and fifth century was recognized by the Emperor Constantine, and after his spurious conversion he eventually, when he came into greater power, made Christianity the state religion in AD 313. Then we found that after that event the church entered, prophetically, the Thyatira period, 'The Corrupt Church' - paganism was married to Christianity through its recognition and patronage by the Emperor. Of course, Thyatira meant - you remember, I hope - 'continual sacrifice', and it spoke very graphically of the church of the sixth and seventh century, what we know today as Roman Catholicism, right through to the church of the 16th century where there was a schism during the Reformation.

Now tonight we arrive at Sardis, and Sardis we have entitled 'The Dead Church', and Sardis literally means 'those escaping' or 'the remnant'. Now that should become evident to you what it depicts prophetically, it depicts that Reformation church that came out of the Roman Catholic Church, the Thyatira period. So, if you're wanting to look and study this particular church in Sardis prophetically, we would call it the post-Reformation church, the church just after the period of reform. Now, I do believe that the Reformation was a divine act of God. Through the translation of the Scriptures, men and women rediscovered the truth of justification by faith, and the truth that salvation is by grace in Christ alone. The Reformation, I believe, was of God; and yet we must say that many of the ecclesiastical systems that evolved out of the Reformation were established by men. Not long after the Reformation we see that the Protestant church became formal, ritualistic, even worldly and political. After the rise of Protestantism during the Thyatira period, prophetically speaking, it's not long before there is a declension in this Sardis period - in many ways, we have to say that today in Protestantism there is much deadness. The life has gone from many of the denominations that came out of the Protestant Reformation, and often their 'protest' has gone as well.

Can I just say in passing - and I don't want to spend much time on this prophetic element, I haven't done during these studies - but we hear a clarion cry, and have done for several years now in evangelicalism, that we need to get back to the period of the Reformation. I believe that that is to look at that period somewhat with rose-tinted glasses - thank God for the Reformation, as I said, I believe it was an act of God, and I believe that we ought to have no regrets for it. But we must say that the Reformation did not go far enough! We do not need to get back to the Reformation, on the contrary we need to get back to the New Testament! Let us go further back, to the teaching of the apostles' doctrine, and the power of the Spirit of God - that was the instruction that was given to this church by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let's leave that and turn to the interpretation that I want to major on tonight, that being the literal. This church is a literal church, with literal Christians, with literal problems, with literal answers - and there is also of course, as there is every week, a personal application. We find it in verse 6: 'Let the one who has ears to hear, hear, and apply personally these truths to their own life'.

Now each week we have looked first of all at the city in which the church was found, and this is the city of Sardis. If you look at the map on the screen you will see that Sardis was approximately 27 miles south of Thyatira. It is today the modern Turkish city of Sart, which is only a small village. But Sardis, in its heyday, was one of the oldest and greatest cities of Western Asia. It was, indeed, the capital of the kingdom of Lydia. It was the city of the wealthy King Croesus, his wealth became proverbial - and I'm sure some of you have heard that saying: 'To be as rich as Croesus'. It was a boom town economically, it was situated at a junction of five main roads, and therefore inevitably became a trade centre. It flourished with a carpet industry, and a woollen industry that I think the Lord alludes to in speaking of these white garments. You could actually pan for gold in the streams within the city limits of Sardis. Some historians believe that gold and silver coins were first minted in the city of Sardis, and so inevitably, because of its wealth and economic success, it became a playground for the rich and famous. It was a city with a name.

However, this great city - partly through military conquest and particularly through its own complacency - lost its former glory. Now the patron deity of this city was Cybele. Her form was often found on the coins of this town and district, and she was supposed to have power to restore the dead to life again. Yet Cybele was unable to bring this city, Sardis, back to its former glory. Now, you can see of course, obviously, the imagery that our Lord Jesus is picking up on concerning this geographical city. Sadly the church in Sardis had become like its city - alive only in name! It had died, and there was no sign of a resurrection!

Now we are not told anywhere in the Scriptures where or when this church came into being - but we do know that, like the city of Sardis, the church of Sardis had an illustrious past, and a grand reputation in the eyes of many. Indeed, one of the famous names associated with this church was a man called Mileto of Sardis, who was an apologist bishop in the late second century, a great defender of the faith who came from this church. But whatever Christians and outsiders thought of the church at Sardis, whatever reputation and name it had, as ever: the only opinion that really mattered was the Lord's. In verse 1 we find His words concerning Sardis: 'Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead'. It had a name that it was alive, it had much activity, a great reputation, a magnificent history - yet Christ said: 'It's dead'.

What do we know about dead churches? Do you feel you belong to one? Do you feel like a dead Christian? A little boy on one occasion was travelling to church as per usual on a Sunday evening with his father, and he sat beside him there on the pew, and the service - as usual for him - seemed extremely boring and dull. He could predict everything that was coming next, because the routine was rigid and repetitive, it never ever varied. Finally the benediction startled the young lad into consciousness, and he sighed in relief and moved toward the door with his father. There on the wall hung a beautifully embossed bronze plaque, and the little lad often wondered what it was for. This time he plucked up the courage to ask his dad what it was all about, and proudly his dad told him that it was in memory of those who died in the services. Immediately the innocent boy replied: 'Which one? Was it the morning or the evening service?'.

The New Testament teaches us that the Church of Jesus Christ is the body of Christ, a living body made up of living stones. It is an organism with life and vitality pulsating through it. Yet here we have in Sardis a church that has a name that it lives, and it is dead! Have you ever considered that there is such a thing as a dead assembly? It might still have Christians belonging to it, but Christ speaks to us tonight, concerning Sardis, of a dead church. Theirs was a name without life, a form without power, a facade without any reality - what do we know of that today? How it reflected the city where it was found, and characteristically how the Lord reveals Himself to this church again enforces the fact that it is a corpse as a church. Look at verse 1 again, He reveals Himself as the one who has the seven Spirits of God, and seven stars. Now, if I was to gather some of you men, perhaps, here for a moment and ask you the very pointed question: what advice would you give to this church regarding how they could fan the flames afire again, the dying embers that need to be roused, what should they do to make a dead church live again? I don't know what you would say, but what the Holy Spirit knew they needed was a vision of Christ - that's what we need, that's what every dying church and every dying Christian needs to see: a vision of the risen and glorified Lord.

Now this is a twofold vision that Sardis receives. First of all He is seen as the Christ who possesses the Spirit, the sevenfold Spirit - seven being the number of perfection or completeness. So this is speaking of the perfect, complete power of the Holy Spirit supplying everything that the church and the Christian needs. Now we saw in one of the weeks near the start of our study that this phrase 'the seven Spirits of God' relates to Isaiah 11, where the seven characteristics of the Holy Spirit are depicted as resting upon the Messiah, of course prophetically speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now in chapter 1 of Revelation verse 4, as I've already alluded to, we see the seven Spirits of God there before the throne, speaking of the executive authority of the Holy Spirit in relation to the church at large. We're going to see later on in chapter 5 and verse 6 that the seven Spirits of God are seen there going into all the earth, and that speaks of the universal impact of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But here this sevenfold Spirit is depicted as being possessed by Christ Himself; and Sardis, this church who is dead, needed to see Christ as the possessor of the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit!

Then secondly He is revealed as having the seven stars in His possession also. If these stars are angels or if they're elders, they represent God's administrative control in the assembly. Now putting those two things together, what is the point of how Christ is revealed to Sardis? The message is: only the Holy Spirit of the living God can adequately control and guide a church! Have you got it? Only the Holy Spirit can control and guide a church. So, as I've already said, they needed a spiritual ministry, and they needed spiritual leadership.

Now here's a truth that has been lost to Christianity today, I believe, generally speaking, and it's one I want to bring to your attention. The New Testament teaches something called 'the presidency of the Holy Spirit', or to put it in another term, 'the executive authority of the Holy Spirit'. Now what is that? We ought to believe, as New Testament Christians, that the Church is run not by men but by the Holy Spirit of the living God. Now He might use men as His instruments, but He is the President, He is the one who is the Vicar of Christ, the representative of Christ on earth, ruling Christ's rule and administration in His church. So the question, practically, that obviously evolves from such a truth is: is the Holy Spirit ruling our churches today? Who rules your church? Who rules this church? Think about our meetings - and I'll look at this in more detail on the Lord's Day, when we consider again 'The Lord's Supper' - but who presides in authority over our gatherings? Is it the Holy Spirit of God?

Now, some of you might say: 'Well, this is all very idealistic and quite mysterious in fact, but put this in black and white terms for us - how is it possible for the Holy Spirit to preside, to be in charge, to rule, to administer in the church today?'. Well, here's the answer and it's inherently simple, it's found in Ephesians 5 and verse 18, we read these words: 'Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be being filled continually with the Holy Spirit'. You say: 'Well, you're misapplying that verse, that's to individual Christians'. Well, I know it is to individual Christians, and that's exactly my point - because the lesson is that if any assembly, if any church is dead, it is only because Christians are dead! If any church does not experience the presidency and administration of the Holy Spirit in its meetings and its affairs, it's only because the Christians belonging to that assembly are not controlled personally by the Holy Spirit. It naturally follows: if churches are to be alive, they must be filled with Spirit-filled Christians. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?

We all have heard the saying, haven't we, that if we point one finger there are three more pointing back at us - it's so true, isn't it? Many of us, including myself, can complain about our own assemblies - what is being done that shouldn't be, and what is not being done that ought to be - and yet at the end of the day, if we have dead churches and dead assemblies, we must first look at ourselves and ask: are we dead as Christians? Quite an eccentric preacher on one occasion on a Sunday morning told his congregation that he believed that his church was dead. Now you can imagine the murmurs from the pews when he said: 'Come back tonight, and I'm going to preach the funeral service of this church'. The members were shocked and they couldn't believe their ears - needless to say, it was the greatest turnout they had in a long time on a Sunday night. In front of the pews was a casket, and as the people sat down stunned in silence, the preacher delivered his message. After the benediction he said: 'Now some of you may not agree with me that this church is dead, and so that you might be convinced I'm going to ask you to view the remains. I want you to file by the casket one by one and see who is dead'. In preparation for that unorthodox presentation, the preacher had placed a mirror in the bottom of the casket. Who did they see when they came to view the corpse? Themselves!

Churches are made up of people. This church is made up of you people. Whatever church you belong to, we've all got a responsibility. I'm not saying everything is my fault, or everything is your fault, but our first responsibility as the Lord said to Peter: 'What is that to thee, what someone else does? Follow thou me!'. They needed to recognize the control of the Holy Spirit over them, and they needed to experience what it was to be filled - that's what that verse means, 'be continually controlled by the Holy Spirit'. If there were Spirit-controlled Christians in our churches, meetings would be controlled by the Spirit - that's the answer.

Thirdly we see the criticism: 'Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead', that is the first criticism. Because they were not filled with the Holy Spirit as individuals and as a church, they were living on a past name, a heritage of history. They had a past to be proud of, but they had a present to be pitied. Does that describe your church tonight, or even this church? Sometimes our churches become shrines to the good old days, to better times, and we're living down memory lane as Christians - and, I say it reverently, you'd think the Holy Spirit had gone back to heaven! You'd think Jesus Christ was not the same yesterday, today, and for ever. I know things might be pitiable in the Western church, but Christ has not changed, and His Spirit is still with us! John MacArthur, speaking of the church at Sardis, says: 'It was a museum in which stuffed animals were exhibited in their natural habitats. Everything appears to be normal, but nothing is alive'. Our churches can be like that, can't they? We're going through the motions, we look the part, we do the right things, say the right words in the right places, turn up at the right gatherings at the specified time - and yet our Church could be like Sardis: a well kept mausoleum! A dead church! It describes many churches today: cold and dead. They had a reputation, they had a history, they had big names connected to them, but they were dead!

The second criticism is found if you look down at verse 2, the second half: 'I have not found thy works perfect before God'. In other words, your works are incomplete. Now please see the picture: they carried on great activity without the power of God infusing it - as 2 Timothy puts it, 'They had a form of godliness, but denying the power'. Let me ask you a question, I hope you'll not mind me saying it, it's not meant to be irreverent - but imagine the Holy Spirit went back to heaven on Saturday evening at 12 o'clock, would anything change in your church or mine at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning? Would we miss the Holy Spirit? Would things just carry on as normal, because we have learned to operate in our lives without His control personally, and therefore we have learned to operate without Him in the church.

Their works were incomplete. Now how do we know, how do we know if our works are incomplete? How do we know today? Well, one preacher put it like this: first of all you'll not have any love for the lost; and the knock-on effect of that will be that people will not be getting saved. Are people getting saved in our churches? Sometimes, not often. Do we have a love for lost people? Sometimes, not often. A second work that will not be incomplete is we will be growing as Christians, and our knowledge will be increasing of Christ as the saints of God - is that happening? A third thing will be that we will each individually be developing further into more Christ-likeness - is that what is happening? Fourthly, we will immediately experience warmth of fellowship when we enter in with God's people in our gatherings. Fifthly, there will be the production of spiritual gifts, because the Holy Spirit is the one who gives them, and there will be the exercise of those gifts within local assemblies to the glory of God. Sixthly, there will be sacrificial giving - not just of money, but of time, resources and energies to the cause of God and the gospel. We could go on - that's how you know whether or not works, as a church, are incomplete. Can I just say to you tonight - and this is a terribly sobering thought - the Lord Jesus Christ says in verse 2: 'I have not found thy works perfect before God', before God! You see, some people get a 'B' in their bonnet, and a twist on, and they say: 'I'm going to do nothing in this church because of the elders, or because of the pastor, or because of that deacon who offended me, or because of that decision that was taken'. Listen! It's not about the elders! It's not about the deacons! It's not about members! This business of church life in the assembly is before God! Serious stuff. That's the only time the Godhead is mentioned in these seven churches, and its in association with how the assembly operates - it's got to do with God.

Sardis had begun as a spiritual movement, we don't know how, but people were saved and they formed an assembly - but now we see it is ending as a monument to an outdated bygone day. Vance Havner is very helpful concerning this, he points out how spiritual ministries often go through four stages, and they all begin with 'M'. First there is a man - you can think of him - there is a man. Then there is a movement, then that movement becomes a mechanism - and before long that mechanism becomes a monument, devoid of life, devoid of power. Sardis was that monument to a bygone age. They had had a reputation, but now they were dead!

But praise God, for a church even as dead as Sardis, there was still hope. So we have a corrective command from the Lord, and Charles Swindoll says: 'What begins as a deathbed scene, however, suddenly shifts to an emergency room drama'. In verse 2 this command is given: 'Be watchful', literally 'Waken up!'. 'Strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die', verse 3, 'Remember therefore...hold fast...repent'. Now what the Lord is doing here is, He's attempting to shock them into life again. They had gone asleep. Twice in Sardian history the city had been invaded because of complacency. You saw in that depiction the great hill that the city was found on, and they thought that it was impregnable, and because of that presumption they didn't guard themselves - and so twice they were attacked. Yes, Sardis was a materialistic place, Sardis was a worldly place, Sardis was an idolatrous place, but perhaps the greatest problem for these believers was their complacency. They had not been on their guard, they had not watched, they had not remembered, they had not held on to those truths, and they had stopped repenting - and because of that they were overcome.

They were overcome by materialism, they were overcome by worldliness, they were overcome by idolatry - but the primary reason why they were overcome was: they stopped watching! They needed to remember, present imperative, keep on remembering. They needed to hold fast, present imperative, keep on holding fast. They needed to repent, aorist imperative, repent now once and for all, make a new start! I'll tell you: if ever there was a message, a one word message that the church of Jesus Christ needs to hear right throughout her whole history, it is a message to repent. Every believer needs to repent daily - but how often do churches repent? When was the last time Sardis repented? Christ said: 'If you don't, there are consequences' - the end of verse 3, 'I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee'.

Do you know what I believe? I believe this church, and every church, needs folk within it who will say: 'Things can't go on like this any longer, let's stop and make a new start'. Now that's biblical: repent, aorist imperative. Stop what you're doing now, repent now and make a new beginning. Now ideally those people, surely, first of all should be overseers in the assembly - but if they don't do it, people who have an exercise ought to do it. Individually, will you do it? Maybe you're not allowing the Holy Spirit to control your life personally? Then there are those who come, and they gather with us, and they never ever contribute to anything. I'm not just talking of practical matters, I'm even talking about praying. We could spend the whole night on this itself, and I know certain people have certain problems at certain times, but at the end of the day we all need to ask ourselves: if we are withholding something from the assembly, why is it? Why don't you tonight decide: 'Things can't go on like this any more, I'm going to stop and make a new start. I'm going to waken up!'? Some of you men need to waken up. In many assemblies around our land women are taking on the role of men, and one of the reasons why it's happening is because the men won't be men. I pity some of you sisters at times, what you have to listen to and go through. Do you see when you're praying? Pray for the men, that they'll be men, and that they'll be exercised, and that they'll be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that they'll allow God's Spirit to use the gifts that He has promised to give to the church, that they might be wakened up!

I don't know how our Lord comes in such circumstances today, but I know this much from Sardis: that churches who never repent, and never make new starts, die. When was the last time we repented as a church? When was the last time your church repented? When was the last time you, as a believer, repented? There is a commitment to those who will, verses 4 and 5. There was a remnant, even in Sardis, which had not lost their Christian testimony, and these believers had not defiled their garments with worldliness. They would therefore walk with Christ in white, they had not defiled or soiled their garments. 'True religion undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affection, and to keep himself unspotted from the world'. Because of that, they had overcome - now here's my question: who will overcome today in Sardis-like dead churches? Will you? Who is overcoming? Is it those who are troubled about the conditions? Surely we need more people who are grieved because the Spirit is grieved, but that's not enough. Those who overcome don't just have bad feelings about the conditions that prevail, but they are resolved to do something about it, to change their mind and allow the Holy Spirit to change their heart and their life! It is those people who one day will find themselves walking in white with Christ.

I tell you, it's not easy to be an overcomer in this day and age in which we live. It's not easy in the church to be alive and vibrant and buoyant with the Spirit's power - but I'll tell you this: on that day no one will regret it, for on that day they will walk in white with Christ. I think that speaks of a special fellowship: they will be glad that on earth they repented and made a new start. In verse 5 we read that the overcomer as a true child of God will never have their name blotted out of the book of life. Then this address ends in verse 6 with a simple call to a simple act, that this church would hear and respond - and it's seldom heeded.

Now let's recap. If a church is dead, it's because the Christians in it are dead - because you are dead. Ask yourself: 'Am I dead? I might be saved, but is my vibrancy and my vitality as a Christian, is it dead?'. All the man made programmes in the world can never bring a Christian or a church to life again, that must come from the Lord who has the sevenfold Spirit of God. He is the source! It's not going to church growth gurus, or the latest vogue way or principle or program or practice - it's going back to Christ who has the Spirit! The church was born in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit descended. Life, spiritual regeneration, comes from the Spirit - but when the Spirit is grieved, the church begins to lose its life and its power, as does the Christian. But when we stop, and when we say: 'Enough is enough! Things cannot go on like that any longer!', and we change our mind about our ways and about the claims of Christ on us, and we confess our sins before God, and put things right with members of the church...when we do God's will found in His word, the Spirit infuses new life again and what is dead becomes alive. Do you know what that is called? Revival!

Let me finish with this story: Peter Brandon tells the story of how in 1958 he spoke to the late W.W. Faraday who some of you will be familiar with because of his writings. When he spoke to him, it was just before he died and went home to be with the Lord, and Faraday spoke to Brandon about the mighty manifestations of the power of God in some of those meetings he had been in in the early Victorian period. He told that on Sunday morning after they broke bread around the table, invariably a soul would be saved - at the table! Many came in to see a meeting that was controlled by the Holy Spirit - in those days, he told Brandon, we had no fixed gospel meetings - that's interesting, isn't it? We would say they were backsliders today! Do you know what they did? After they broke bread in the morning, they all bowed their heads and asked God for direction. He said: 'We would hire a town hall or a theatre, and some Sunday nights we had up to 200 people converted!'. The Spirit of God was mightily at work, God was moving in power - but Faraday said that when it came near to the beginning of the 20th century many of the Christian periodicals and magazines were encouraging the Lord's people to repent and to humble themselves, but they didn't. These are Faraday's words: 'Slowly and insidiously we declined, until we moved from the organic to a mechanical movement'. From the organic, life-pulsating power of the Spirit in the church, to a mechanical movement - and then the old man, nearly 99, by this time blind, looked into Brandon's face and said these words: 'If the Lord doesn't come in your lifetime, and you live to be a mature man, you will see many assemblies closing'. Then he stopped and added these words: 'Don't worry. You will have to start all over again, just as we did, and recover the truth, and rediscover the power of the Spirit, and God will multiply you'.

Can I tell you something? If I have a conviction about anything in these days, it is that. There is a decline, but if we would but repent and start all over again as they did, the dead would live again. May God bless His word to every heart.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - December 2007

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The Book Of The Revelation - Chapter 9

" Philadelphia, The Faithful Church"

Copyright 2007

by Pastor David Legge

All rights reserved

Let's turn to our portion tonight, Revelation chapter 3, and we are beginning to read at verse 7 - 'Philadelphia, The Faithful Church'.

Chapter 3 verse 7: "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 no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and 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 hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation", or tribulation, "which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go 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 new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches".

Now we have noted over these weeks studying the seven churches, this being our sixth, with minor exceptions there is a pattern to each of them. Let me remind you of what that is: first of all, as Christ speaks to each of these churches He reveals certain characteristics of Himself that fit the need of that particular church. Up until this church, the characteristics have derived from the vision that John initially had, recorded in chapter 1. However the characteristics that we have given to the church at Philadelphia do not come from that vision. We will refer to those characteristics later on, but just let me make this particular point - noting that he does not get these characteristic traits from the vision in chapter 1, it might well tell us, and I think at least it is a true sentiment to say, that there is no vision of Christ, however great, that can depict Him personally in perfection. We revere the word of God, don't we? Rightly so, and yet even verbal descriptions, even visual, supernatural descriptions cannot ever exhaust or fully depict the wonder of Christ as He is. They hymn writer tried to capture this by saying:

'Join all the glorious names

Of wisdom, love, and power,

That ever mortals knew,

That angels ever bore:

All are too mean to speak His worth,

To mean to set my Saviour forth'.

So John - at least John is the penman - our Lord Jesus goes outside the vision of chapter 1 to describe Himself to Philadelphia as 'the holy and the true', verse 7, 'the key to David, the one who opens and shuts'. Those are the characteristics as Christ reveals Himself to Philadelphia.

Then secondly in each church there is a commendation, except of course to Sardis - we looked at that church last week - and Laodicea, which will be our next study. But there is a commendation to Philadelphia, and you find it in verse 8, the second half of the verse: 'For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name'. They kept His word, though they had a little strength - that means they were obedient Christians, an obedient church. They had not denied His name, even though they were little in strength - that shows that they confessed Christ with their mouth and with their lives. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it could be said of everyone here and this church, that we were obedient, and we confessed Christ with our mouths and lives? So they are commended.

Thirdly in most of these letters there is a criticism, but there is no criticism to Philadelphia in their letter. The only other letter that does not receive criticism from the Lord is the letter to Smyrna, the suffering church. Isn't it interesting that the only two letters who do not receive a critique from the risen Christ are the suffering church, Smyrna, and the church of little strength, the weak church, Philadelphia. I think there must be deep spiritual truth in the fact that there is no criticism for Philadelphia and Smyrna, and we'll see what that is in a few moments.

Fourthly in most of the letters there is a corrective command, because they have been criticised the Lord tells them how they must go on the right road - and there is no criticism, neither is there any corrective command to Philadelphia. It's wonderful, isn't it? Imagine being a church, or for that matter being a Christian, that Christ could not criticise, being a Christian that Christ did not have to give a further command to!

Now though there is no corrective command, there is indeed counsel given to Philadelphia. That is found in verse 11: 'Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown'. They are given counsel, how to stay faithful, whatever would befall them. Then fifthly, as in each letter, in verses 9-12 we are given a commitment by the Lord to those who would overcome, those in this church of Philadelphia overcoming the conditions that prevail. Verse 12 in particular states: 'Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go 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 new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name'. Interesting that the Lord Jesus here is speaking, as a man, of 'my God', and then He not only writes the name of His God, and the name of the city of God, but He writes His new name upon the overcomer. We'll look at the significance of those statements later on.

Now let me remind you of why we are studying in great depth, and why indeed John gives us the letters to the seven churches. Chapter 1:19 gives us an inspired outline of the book: the things that John saw, being the vision; the things that were, that is the seven churches that existed that Christ is writing to; and the things which are to come, which really comprises chapter 4, or at least chapter 6 right through to the end of the book. So the things that are are these seven churches of Asia Minor. We have noted, and it's worth reminding you of, that there were more than seven churches in total in Asia Minor - but these seven churches have been chosen by the Holy Spirit to be representive churches. If you look at the screen, let me remind you - I may not have said this since our first week - but if you were to travel from the first church mentioned by Christ, Ephesus, right round as they are mentioned by the Lord and written to by John, you would come in a complete circle, clockwise, please note. Therefore we have to say that, because the number seven is the biblical number of completion, and because these have been chosen out of the churches that existed in that day and age for their representative characteristics, we believe that prophetically - and Revelation, of course, as we have found out, is a prophetic book - prophetically what John is giving us is the complete timeline and prophetic history of the Church of Jesus Christ, a divine revelation concerning this church age in which we live. It is a complete moral picture and spiritual history of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Now that is understood in three ways. We have seen that it's understood literally, these were seven literal churches in these geographical locations. Secondly it's understood universally, each of these churches illustrate good and bad conditions in the churches as they have existed right throughout the church age. Similar to Matthew 13, and the seven mystery parables of the kingdom there that depict certain characteristics that can be found in every age in many churches. So you can see traits that are found in each of these seven churches right across the globe today in many churches. Yet there is a further interpretation, that being the prophetic. Not just literal and universal, but the prophetic. In other words, that each of these churches actually looks chronologically at that particular period of church history.

We started in Ephesus, which was the loveless church, and we saw that the characteristics there equate dramatically to the post-apostolic age of the church - that being just after the death of the last apostle. We saw there that generally speaking the doctrine in the church was pure, but their devotion to Christ was beginning to wane - that would have consequences. The next stage we found to be that of Smyrna, and not long after the apostles' death there was great persecution, and from the first to the fourth century we see under ten Roman emperors, ten very strenuous persecutions of Christianity - the tenth lasting ten years. Smyrna was the persecuted church, then after Smyrna came Pergamos, and we saw that it was the compromising church - Pergamos means 'married'. During the fourth and fifth centuries we find that Constantine, after his spurious conversion to Christianity, made Christianity the state religion in 313 AD. From that moment on the church lost, generally speaking, its fidelity to Christ because it became allied to the world. That was the church of the fourth and fifth century, answering very graphically to Pergamos. Then after Pergamos came Thyatira, the corrupt church. Thyatira meant 'continual sacrifice', and during the sixth and the seventh centuries we see the rise of what we recognize today as Roman Catholicism, and they espouse great dedicated sacrificial works for God, and also celebrate the continual sacrifice of the Mass. Of course, in the 16th century there was the Reformation, and here enters the church at Sardis. Though that Reformation was an awakening of God to the rediscovering of the truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, we see that what started as a work of the Holy Spirit and God's grace, a work of God, developed into ecclesiastical bodies that were originated by men. In Sardis we see a dead church, Sardis means 'those escaping', 'a remnant', that is the post-Reformation church. The Reformation was of God, but many of the ecclesiastical systems were established by men. If you want to know more about that, see last week's study.

This brings us now to Philadelphia, the faithful church. Now Philadelphia means 'brotherly love'. Now prophetically speaking, after the death of Protestantism, there were many gracious revivals that the Lord instrumentally brought to the church. The reason being that the Holy Spirit was bringing Evangelicalism back to the simplicity and the primitiveness of New Testament truth. You can see that very clearly in church history, that out of the dearth and deadness of Protestantism in general there came, during the 18th and early 19th centuries, a period of great evangelical awakening. Study it in church history, it is very instructive, and indeed encouraging. During that period many New Testament principles that had been lost to the church were rediscovered, particularly doctrines relating to church order and practice; and also the doctrine of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and many other truths related to that.

Also during that Great Awakening period, a great door was opened, a door that would allow the church once more - as the Apostles had originally done - to spread the gospel worldwide. What we see during this particular church period is the birth of what we know as the modern missionary movement. Out of all the periods of the seven churches, I think this was the period that I would have most loved to have lived during. Can I just say, as I leave this prophetic issue here: if the Lord should wait any longer before He returns for us, we are going to need a fresh breath of the Holy Spirit of God. Whilst this is a characteristic that generalised this period of church history, there are still revivals in our world today, hence the universal interpretation of the seven churches - we can have these characteristics today in the church of Jesus Christ in the 21st century, and oh how much we need it in Ulster! You remember last week that Sardis was the dead church, and there was then a transition from a dead church to a faithful church, Philadelphia, and it can still happen today - dead Christians can become faithful Christians, dead churches can become faithful churches once more if they rediscover many of the lost principles of the New Testament.

Can I remind you of what I shared with you in closing last Monday evening, the words of W.W. Faraday to Peter Brandon many years ago, speaking of a movement of the Spirit that God worked mightily through many years ago. He said: 'Slowly and insidiously they declined, until they moved from the organic to the mechanical'. What had been a living movement became a mechanical movement, and that has been the transition of every movement, I feel, that has not known subsequent revival. Faraday, predicting that decline, said to Brandon: 'Don't worry. You will have to start all over again as we did, and rediscover the truth, and rediscover the power of the Spirit, and God will multiply you'. Oh, do we need that today!

'Oh, for the floods on a thirsty land,

Oh, for a mighty revival.

Oh, for a sanctified fearless band,

Ready to hail its arrival'.

Now let's leave that prophetic interpretation there, although it will have application as we go through our study of this faithful church tonight. We want to primarily look at Philadelphia from a literal sense and a personal sense, verse 13: 'Let those who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches'. Each night we have looked first of all at the city where this church is found. So let us look at Philadelphia. Philadelphia was known as a rich city, partly from the grape growth, grapes flourished in this particular vicinity - but it was mainly known as rich because of the location where it was situated. It was known in its day as the gateway to the east. Its founder, who also gave it its name, Philadelphia, intended the city to be a strategic missionary city to propagate the Greek, or the Hellenistic way of life. So he intended that Greek philosophy and Greek wisdom would spread right across the known world, far and wide, from Philadelphia. It was an ideal location for this, because it was on the main route of the Imperial Postal Service that ran from the capital city of the empire, Rome, right to the east - and so it was a pathway along which many would traverse. The Roman army would march across it wherever they were going in the empire, there would be travelling caravans, business merchants - so you can understand why the founder of this city wanted this missionary endeavour to begin there. We can understand also then why the Lord speaks of opening the door, an opportunity to propagate the gospel through this church in Philadelphia.

Now let's look at the characteristics of the risen Christ as He is revealed to Philadelphia. Verse 7: 'These things saith he that is holy, he that is true', let's deal with these first. Holy and true - now again we say that these are characteristics that are independent from the vision that we have in chapter 1, but it's very easy to trace what the meaning of them is. Isaiah 43 and verse 3 reads: 'I am the LORD thy God', Jehovah thy God, 'the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour'. 'Holy' is a designation of God. Now when we turn to chapter 6 of Revelation and verse 10, we read: 'And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?'. So in this very book, in chapter 6 and verse 10, 'holy and true' are descriptions given to Almighty God - and yet here our Lord Jesus reveals Himself as 'holy and true' to Philadelphia. Of course 'holy' is a divine title, and the Lord Jesus Christ is God.

These were encouragements to these Philadelphian Christians who were faithful, Christ found them such, to remain faithful. You see the holiness of God is not just a doctrine that we celebrate and defend against all error, but Peter tells us that it is a reason for us to be holy: 'As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation', in your manner of life. So Christ is revealing Himself as holy to these faithful Christians, that they might remain holy and be encouraged to do such. He reveals Himself as true. Now there are two Greek words, I'm led to believe, that correspond to our English word 'true'. The first means 'true in contrast to that which is false', that is not the meaning here. It is rather the other meaning, which is 'true in contrast to that which is an imitation'. So what the Lord is revealing to these Philadelphian Christians is: 'I am really God, I am the holy and the true, I am not an imitation, I am not a substitute, I am the true and living Christ, the Son of the Living God'.

Now we need to emphasise this great truth in these days. I don't know whether you have followed the presidential candidacy in the United States of America