THE MAINTENANCE OF WHAT IS DUE TO GOD IN LOCAL ASSEMBLIES
The first three chapters of the book of Revelation have a special value; they present to us the Lord Jesus as One who takes account of conditions in local assemblies. Undoubtedly, they relate to the public history of the assembly and present a sort of historical review; but the idea is that the Lord takes account of present conditions such as are found in the gatherings of saints. It is important to keep in mind that God considers whether there is a response to revealed truth. It is in local companies that this response can be seen, it is there that the service of God takes form, and it is in the local meeting that the Lord takes account of existing conditions. All that can be praised, He praises; all that displeases Him He exposes—in love—he said to Laodicea: “I rebuke and discipline as many as I love”.
John begins with salutations to the seven assemblies in Asia; the Lord had taken account of these seven local companies as representing the complete idea of the assembly. The Lord’s desire is that we should keep in mind that He walks in their midst. John makes an appeal to peace from “him who is, and who was, and who is to come”—God Himself; “and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness”. In his epistles, Paul also appeals to grace and peace “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Here John not only refers to God and to the Lord Jesus, but also to the Spirit—“the seven spirits” which are before His throne. Attention is especially drawn to the Holy Spirit. John writes to the seven assemblies and mentions “the seven spirits”, designating the Holy Spirit in this way as the resource for local assemblies, always available to secure and maintain what is due to God. This is the thought contained in the expression, “the seven spirits”. The Holy Spirit is here, but He takes His place before God’s throne so as to maintain what is due to God; this is particularly important in the last days, when a great current of opposition and divergences is manifested. But in the local assemblies, the Lord wants to see maintained all that is due to God. It is to this end that the Holy Spirit has come, so as to face the opposition.
John speaks of God as “Him who is”: it is the generative idea. God is for ever. Men may appear and pass “as the grass”, however powerful they may be. But God “is”, which implies His greatness and majesty in contrast with the pettiness of man. Then God “was”, reminding us indeed of what He has been, the God of Daniel, and the God of Moses, appreciated in His faithfulness, and who will have the last word; although it is set aside by men, He is One who “is to come”.
The Lord is presented as “the faithful witness”, which shows the fact that the assemblies are found in the place of testimony where the Lord has been in perfection; He has accepted death rather than abandon whatever it may be that is due to God. His absolute fidelity has cost Him His life. And so He is presented as “the firstborn from the dead” and, “the prince of the kings of the earth”, a marvellous presentation of the Lord Jesus, “the faithful witness”, one from whom the assembly must take character.
John cannot contain himself in considering the Lord and he expresses his admiration: “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood” (this is why we must be no longer marked by what characterised us formerly), “and made us a kingdom” (he has in the saints a redeemed company over whom He can spread His protection), “priests to his God and Father” (the end is the service of God). We are here for that in this protected position in His hand and to take part in the service of God as priests: “to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen”, v 6.
We have to take account of what the Lord finds in each of the seven assemblies: in Ephesus, decline; in Smyrna, faithfulness in the presence of persecution; in Pergamos, progressive estrangement; in Thyatira, the depths of Satan; in Sardis, a certain measure of recovery but in the end, a state of death: “thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead”, and “I have not found thy works complete before my God”. We must take account of all that the Lord has noticed: the accusation against Sardis is strong; it is not a matter of exposing gross things, but a state lacking in life and what is completed.
In contrast with that, Philadelphia manifests conditions that please the Lord. We would like to be able to say this about ourselves, and we must be exercised as to taking on the features that are brought out as pleasing to the Lord, brotherly love in particular—which is what “Philadelphia” means. Such must be the conditions in localities, the saints united in love as partaking of the divine nature, learning to appreciate one another. It is in fixing our eyes on God’s work in one and another that we go on together with more liberty by the Spirit, for the Spirit helps us to appreciate one another; the same Spirit who distributes different gifts to one and another … The Spirit has mutual appreciation in His mind; the Lord appreciates Philadelphia and He presents Himself to her as “the holy, the true”. Holy, that is what He is as to man; answering perfectly to what God sought in man. In John 6, Peter brings out the expression received by the apostles as to One in the company in which they had been: he says “and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”, John 6: 69. He is morally and in every way for the pleasure of God. It is profitable for us to consider Christ as He is presented in the gospels to receive an impression of what He is. The assembly must take on features like those that have characterised Him. These features must mark our position in the testimony. This was the case with Samuel: he was at one time a great prophet, judge, intercessor and priest. The first thing that could be said of him is that he “served before Jehovah”, when he was only a young boy, that is to say not officially but he was a priest morally. What Samuel was in his priestly character underlay all that he was publicly. We must all be exercised, great and small, to cultivate what pleases God and avoid what displeases Him.
It is said of the Lord to Philadelphia: “the holy, the true”: first of all, “holy”, which is what we find in John 6: 69: “thou art the holy one of God”. Then “the true”, with the thought of faithfulness in the testimony and purity of motives, we find this same thought in verse 18 of chapter 7 of the same gospel, “he is true, and unrighteousness is not in him”. The Lord presents Himself to Philadelphia in this light so that the saints of this assembly should be exercised to put on these features. It is good to see how the Lord began in the service of God. In other times, Moses had received all the directions as to it. Currently, we receive a great help from ministry as to the service of God. The door is opened, the Holy Spirit is recognised, and by this fact, we are delivered from clerical principles. This is very important for we do not only gather for our own enjoyment, but so that God Himself may be served in suited moral conditions, in the liberty and affections of sons, finding from this His pleasure in His own.
The Lord takes account of everything. He speaks to Philadelphia, and He can say to them, “I know thy works”, and He adds, “thou hast a little power”: this “little power” is not weakness but a measure of power that is outwardly small which nevertheless manifests that the Holy Spirit is recognised, so that the Lord can add further: “thou hast kept my word”. That is very important—His word, that is to say that, at any time, He speaks to us a living word. If it is a matter of the Lord’s commandments, they remain the same at all times; but His word has a special character, it is a living word, given at an opportune moment. Mary is marked by the fact of listening to His word: at Bethany, she desired to know what the Lord had to say at that moment; the Lord appreciates such an attitude of mind.
We must pay attention to the ministry; we find there at a suited time what appeals to our affections. The address to Philadelphia is touching: “I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. It is a matter of the whole assembly, that is what is in the Lord’s mind, wherever the features of the assembly are found, they are attributes of the whole assembly. The present preoccupation must be to discern the features that the Lord seeks to find in the assembly and to be exercised so that such features may be formed and developed, having at heart what gives Him pleasure. The Lord makes a precious promise to Philadelphia: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial …”, v 10. The conditions mentioned as to the habitable earth are presented as putting to the test those who find their life in things down here. But the assembly’s life is bound up with Christ; He will keep it from this trial. We find here a reference to the rapture in a particular setting, and in consideration of those who keep His word. It is in taking that before Him that He will keep us.
The “word of my patience” is an expression that corresponds well to the present times, this is the time of patience for the saints. The Lord is presented to us in 2 Thessalonians as characterised by patience, the apostle mentions “the patience of the Christ”, chap 3: 5. So the Lord makes an appeal to the patience of the saints in the closing time, inviting them to keep it. The appeal is more emphasised in verse 11: “I come quickly: hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”. It is a great object to keep in mind. What corresponds to Christ, the features of Christ, proper to the assembly, must be seen in the saints, this is their crown and they are exhorted to hold fast “that no one take thy crown”.
In verse 12, we have another word for the overcomer, for him that overcomes. The idea is that the things of God should be maintained on a principle of victory. The current is against the truth, that is why it is necessary to be marked by these features of overcoming. In several references, the Lord expresses Himself in a touching way: “My God”, indicating His jealousy for His God and for all that God desires to see secured in the assembly, “the pillar and base of the truth”. The light shines in the temple by the power of the Spirit and it must be apparent in the testimony. The holy place in the tabernacle had no natural light. Among the saints—God’s temple—the spirit of man is excluded, and the only light is that of the Spirit. We must be exercised in our meetings to recognise the Holy Spirit. If conditions required by His presence are maintained, the light shines on the Scriptures as we are exercised by them, in opposition to what is in the Christian profession.
In verse 12, we read, “I will write upon him the name of my God”. Certain things are written, that is to say that it is possible to see them. If a brother addresses God in liberty, in spiritual intelligence and in affection, you can see “the name of my God” written in this brother, seen in him. Such things must be before us, beloved, if we enter in a living way into all that the Lord has in His mind in saying, “my Father and your Father, and … my God and your God”. His Name is written and seen on persons.
It is then a question of the name of the city; the city is the centre of administration. God is glorified in the way in which we do things. In the assembly, all should be done in a way that corresponds to “the city of my God”.
“My new name” is a reference to the way in which God is known and understood in Christianity. Previously, the Lord was known under different names: the Christ, the Son of man, the Son of God. “My new name” is a Name attached to His Person, a Name under which He has never been known, it is an impression received of Him by the way in which He is revealed to us, John 20.
If we have real exercise as to what has been presented in these passages, we will receive the Lord’s help; the power of the Spirit is also with us to secure a response of heart to Christ and to every desire of His. There is no reason for it not being so in each locality. What is said to Philadelphia is a message for every assembly, as also what is said to the seven assemblies.
“He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”.
May our ear be attentive to the ministry that the Spirit gives in a universal way.
May the Lord bless His word.
BEAUVOISIN
5th November 1952
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’, August 1953
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