How these epistles speak to us of our Lord’s tender solicitude for the welfare of His assemblies! In them we learn too the holy judgment of Him “who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire,” as He views the churches in the place of public testimony and responsibility. Judgment has begun at the House of God.
The primary object of the Lord is to warn the seven churches, and through them Christians in all times, of the dangers of declension and apostasy, so that giving heed to what “the Spirit saith unto the churches,” they might prove overcomers through faith in Jesus as the Son of God (1 Jn. 5:5).
Ephesus
Declension early set into the primitive churches. Paul’s epistle had revealed to the Ephesians how high they had been raised; the Lord’s message now declares they were already fallen. But first He commends what He can–their patient continuance in well-doing (see 1 Thess. 1:3); their intolerance of evil men; and their careful testing of professors. Did this service have no value in His eyes? But love loves love, and the Lord loves His people too much to be satisfied with anything short of their love. No activity, even “for His name’s sake,” can make up for its lack.
This declension must lead to a removal of their lamp, except they repent. Before closing, the Lord adds one more word of commendation. Though they had left their first love for Him, they had not lost their first hate of evil practices. “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate,” and so far they had fellowship with Him. Today it seems to be thought by some to be a mark of Christian charity to hate nothing, but to take up a neutral attitude under guise of impartiality, when evil has to be dealt with. But not so the Lord.
The Lord closes His address with a promise to the overcomer, who, by grace, proves himself to the end to be in truth a living member of the Church: “to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” What can the fruit of the tree be but Christ’s perfections ministered to His own?
Smyrna
Smyrna’s circumstances correspond with the persecutions under the Roman Emperors from Nero’s to Maximin’s (308-14), ten in number. The Lord’s words, “Ye shall have tribulation ten days,” may point to this.
Thus did the Lord deal with His church who had left her first love, allowing her to pass through the fires of persecution. He tells them plainly who is against them. “Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried.” The Lord has no reproof for Smyrna. Affliction was doing its work. The word means “myrrh.” As piercing the tree allows the fragrant resin to exude, so trial brings out sweet graces from the saints.
The Lord presents Himself as the Eternal One, “the first and the last,” He embraces all time and circumstance. As He who “was dead and is alive,” He had tasted in full the experience that threatened them, and He had triumphed. He knows their works and tribulation. They are poor in one sense but rich in a better, unlike Laodicea, who thought herself rich, but was bereft of true wealth.
He sustains His people by encouragement, “Fear none of those things, which thou shalt suffer,” and by the offer of a reward, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” It is only to Smyrna and Philadelphia, where there was nothing to blame, that the Lord speaks of a crown.
Pergamos
This message is succeeded by that to Pergamos. The condition of things here is widely different. They dwell “where Satan’s seat is.” He is no longer as “a roaring lion” but “an angel of light,” seducing the saints from Christ, as Balaam did Israel, by conformity to worldly religion and the indulgence of the flesh. Here the deeds of the Nicolaitanes have become stereotyped into doctrine. How often evil practice and evil doctrine go hand in hand. The early persecutions gave place to patronage.
When Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion, mixed with paganism, the latter is said by some to have fallen before Christianity; really it was the church which fell: Christianity became Christendom. The Lord addresses, however, words of encouragement to His true people. He knows their surroundings and their experiences, and commends them for holding fast His name and not denying His faith. No wonder the Lord presents Himself in the character He does, and threatens the seducers with judgment. “Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” The overcomer is promised a three-fold reward: heavenly sustenance–“the hidden manna,” the Lord’s open recognition–“a white stone,” and His secret appreciation–“a new name, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”
Thyatira
Here things are worse even than at Pergamos, for what is held is sure to be taught publicly or privately and so we read, “I have against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication,” etc.–the very doctrine of Balaam held at Pergamos. But even in Jezebel’s day God had a remnant who “had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.” So here, there was a remnant (v. 24).
It is difficult to conceive an apostolic church as described here, though I am not calling in question its literal character, but any difficulty disappears if we remember the prophetic character of these messages. The one now before us points to Christendom in the dark ages of Papal supremacy, to be surpassed still later when full ecumenism is realized. Then she will be seen as “Mystery, Babylon the Great,” in unholy alliance with the great world rulers of “the last hour”–the woman seated on the beast but soon to be devoured by it. The faithfulness of the remnant at Thyatira was doubtless very acceptable to Him in the presence of such terrible inroads of evil. No wonder for such He appears as the Son of God–object of faith for all who would overcome the world (1 Jn. 5:5), but also whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and His feet as fine brass. He stands at the door as Judge.
He commends the faithful ones for their works, love, faith, and service, for their “last works more than the first.” To the overcomer He promises a share in the future kingdom. The appeal to the hearers comes last, and in the three succeeding messages, as though now only overcomers are addressed.
Sardis
Sardis has the worst state so far. The Lord has nothing to commend in the church as a whole: “Thou hast a name to live and art dead.” This describes Protestantism, not in its initial stages, but when stereotyped in its national and political phases. It is not for us to belittle the Reformation–but the Luthers, Calvins, Farrels, Knoxes, Wycliffes, the Waldenses and Albigenses even, would be included rather in the faithful remnant of Thyatira. They did not go far enough, but to rescue from the mortuary of Rome what they did was a mighty work.
Sardis is exhorted to be watchful and to “strengthen the things, which remain that are ready to die.” There are “remnant” things (ta loipa, 3:2), as well as the remnant (hoi loipoi, 2:24). It is for us to strengthen them and not to “despise the day of small things”–the remnant testimony. There were a few even in Sardis undefiled–and “they will walk with their Lord in white, for they are worthy.” And if names had had to be erased from the ill-kept registers of the church in Sardis, the names of overcomers will never be from the book of life; nor indeed will any name, once written there. The Lord will confess all His own before His Father and His angels. He will not be ashamed of them there.
Philadelphia
As with Smyrna, no blame attaches to Philadelphia. If God was to have a testimony suited to Himself, He must raise it up. Philadelphia represents the true revival. Here the Lord finds a place in the affections of His people. It was no mere negative protest against evil, but a positive devotion to His Word and Person. No doubt the evils against which Protestantism takes her stand are serious enough but man cannot live on negations. This is the danger of all controversy if it stops short of Christ.
It is not fitting for any company of saints to claim to be Philadelphia, much less to monopolize such a claim. We cannot afford to ignore the Spirit’s work down the post-Reformation centuries. No doubt the Puritan, Quaker, and Methodist movements, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries (and these were far from being the only works) were lacking in scriptural intelligence, did not go far enough, and have sadly degenerated, but who can doubt that in each case God did raise up a faithful remnant, who “kept His Word and did not deny His Name”?
Nor has the Lord ceased to work in grace. What gracious revivings He has given! What a re-digging of apostolic wells! It might be said that this revival has gone back further and deeper than any before it. “Other men labored and we are entered into their labors.” Let us be thankful to have any part in it; not puffed up with a sense of superior grace or knowledge, but rather humbled at the degree in which Satan and the flesh have marred so divine a testimony. To Philadelphia comes the word, “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
He will save these out from “the hour of temptation” (which shows that this goes on to the end). The overcomers will be pillars in the temple of God, witnesses to His grace, and will have on them the names of God, of the New Jerusalem, and the new name of Christ Himself, speaking of relationship, citizenship, and fellowships.
Laodicea
Laodicea’s privileges had been great: she had been the object of Paul’s solicitude (Col. 2:1; 4:15); the recipient of an epistle (Col. 4:16); the subject of the prayers of Epaphras (Col. 4:13); and most probably, the scene of John’s labors. But so low had she fallen that the Lord had to say, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot…I will spue thee out of My mouth.” Indifference and self-satisfaction–is not this the attitude today?
The Lord presents Himself to them as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” Here I think the Lord would emphasize His character as the One who stands for God, justifies all His purposes, promises, and verdicts, and sees they are made good. He is not only the entirely trustworthy One, but fully qualified to bear witness by His personal knowledge and competence; and then, if all that pertains to the old creation, God starts afresh in Christ, for He is “the beginning of the creation of God.”
To what does the Laodicean condition correspond in the present era? The usual reply is to Modernism, and such like. But there is not a hint in this message of evil doctrine, nor yet of moral lapse. Laodicea had no Balaams or Jezebels among them and there was apparently no departure from scriptural order.
Perhaps as far as outward things they would compare quite well with Philadelphia, but the temperature of the two churches was different. Laodicea was Philadelphia cooled down from boiling to lukewarm; it was Philadelphia with Christ outside the door. The Lord wished they were boiling or cold; then they either would not need His reproof, or needing it, would be brought to repentance. But, alas, they had no inkling of their true condition.
Was there any hope? Yes, but only in the Lord’s personal dealings. “I counsel thee to buy of Me…” The Lord’s counsel can only be rightly understood in the light of verse 19: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent.” His unchanging love to His people is the secret of restoration, so He assures them of it.
Will we pay the price? Shall we submit to the refiner, and, humbling ourselves under His chastening hand, “buy” of Him? Laodicea was being dealt with governmentally, “that she might not be condemned with the world.” But after all the appeal is individual. It is not for us to say that the mass of the people of God will not hear, but if they do hear, it will be as individuals.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me.” Shall not the response be, “Come in, O Lord, wherefore standest Thou without?” The overcomer is promised to sit with the Lord on His throne. Could there be a higher place?