HOLD THAT FAST WHICH THOU HAST
HOLD THAT FAST WHICH THOU HAST
JT It may be well that we should be reminded that what engaged us yesterday evening — following upon the previous reading — was that there was this extraordinary appearing to John, and that it contemplates the great departure and failure of the professing body, and covers the whole history of that failure to the end. It also indicates recovery, so that the assembly is seen, in Philadelphia, as loved of the Lord; the end thus corresponding with the beginning. And then it was remarked that the epistle represented the mind of the Lord, as covering the successive stages of failure or recovery, and that the voice of the Spirit, what the Spirit ‘says’, would be the amplification of that in ministry. Hence everyone who has an ear to hear is called upon to hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. The appeal to those who have ears to hear, as has often been noted, comes in in the first three assemblies before the word to the overcomer; in the last four it comes in after the word to the overcomer, meaning that, from Thyatira onwards, an ear to hear is contingent on the overcomer. The public body is no longer appealed to in this day; the appeal comes in after the promises made to the overcomer.
WP Do you mean that it is only the overcomer who hears?
JT I think it is contingent on the presence of an overcomer. That is, a remnant is formally taken account of. Thyatira is the first assembly in which a remnant is formally taken account of, and that is the key, I think, to the position. After Thyatira we are in remnant days, and it is in the remnant that the ‘ear’ will be found, and the presence of a remnant [p. 211] will be contingent upon the overcomer. It is well to see the position after Thyatira is noted, because it is based on the existence of a remnant, and the Lord’s coming is the one thing now imminently before us. There is no thought of a continuance of public testimony; what would take the place of that would be the Lord Himself, as here He takes the place of the public witness.
AH When you speak of the remnant, do you mean the real part of the whole profession?
JT Yes, just so. As it says, after chapter 2:24, the “rest”, or remnant, who are in Thyatira, “as many as have not this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I do not cast upon you any other burden, but what ye have hold fast till I shall come”. Revelation 2:24,25. You see, the “rest” and the “you”, and the “ye”, refer, not to the public body, but to the remnant. So that He lightens the burden. He does not place assembly obligations on the remnant, He does not place on the remnant the obligation that rested on the assembly primarily; that is, of being a public witness, or candlestick; “I do not cast upon you any other burden, but what ye have hold fast till I shall come”. That is another feature, I think, of our position, that the Lord is not putting anything upon us, but to hold fast what we have. He does not say to the remnant in Thyatira, “I have set before thee an opened door”, because this remnant is not regarded as in assembly state. They simply are said not to have the doctrine of Jezebel, and not to have known the depths of Satan. They were clean to that extent.
WP Can that position be taken up today?
JT Well, the position of a remnant, I think, is the one which we should take up. That is the basis of our position. The address to Thyatira contemplates the rights of the Son of God. The Babylonish system contemplated in that address — Jezebel — interferes [p. 212] with the rights of the Son of God in the house, because another has taken His place as over the house. That is the position the Pope assumes; he is over the house, he is over the assembly, and it is a direct denial of the place of the Son of God. The Son of God is over the house of God, and no one else can have that place, so that His eyes are as a flame of fire, and He speaks of doing certain things, acting directly against Jezebel; “behold I cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation”. Revelation 2:22. That, I think, is done now; He has done that, so that there is something definitely fixed in regard of her — judicially fixed — “She will not repent”, He says, so that there is no hope at all of any recovery there; we have the Lord’s definite word that she will not repent.
HM Then the godly remnant in that condition comprises those who have Christ as the object of their hearts; they do not let another get His place personally.
JT Yes, and they will rule, as He says, “to him will I give authority over the nations”. Revelation 2:26. This was the very thing that Rome claimed — authority over the nations. Now the overcomer gets that from Christ, and it is much better to wait for it, because we shall have it permanently. He who takes it in violence, or in corruption, shall be ousted, and the overcomer shall have it permanently. “I will give him authority over the nations, and he shall shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of a potter are they broken in pieces, as I have received from my Father, and I will give him the morning star”, Revelation 2:26 - 28 which, I suppose, is the truth of the coming of the Lord. These are what the overcomer in Thyatira receives; and an ear opened to hear “what the Spirit says”, would mean that the Spirit would amplify all that, and make it attractive spiritually to the faithful, making room for and leading them on to something else. That is what I think [p. 213] ministry is; what the Spirit says is the breaking up and amplifying and application of what the Lord says authoritatively. The Spirit brings it in through ministry.
HM So that when we come to Sardis there is not only the hearing; but “remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and keep it” comes in, does it not? If we once delighted to hear it we shall remember how we heard it and always keep that sort of ear for the truth.
JT So that now the overcomer is placed before the hearing ear; and the truth of the Holy Spirit, I think, is introduced in the next passage, where the Lord says — that is to Sardis — “these things saith he that has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars”. That is, He holds perfection of spiritual power, and He holds the responsible elements, too. He has got both. The seven stars are the angels, we are told elsewhere, of the seven assemblies. The Lord has the perfection of spiritual power, and He has also the responsible element in Sardis. Now, this is where I think great failure took place at the Reformation. Instead of taking advantage of the ministry which was there, and to which the truth of the Holy Spirit called attention, the Quaker, George Fox, as some may know — pardon my reference to history, but it is needful to point out the bearing of this — endeavoured to make room for the Spirit in those days, but went too far. He left out the ‘understanding’. “I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding”. 1 Corinthians 14:15. To sit down as a meeting and spend an hour or two together without saying anything does not represent the mind of God. It may pretend to recognise the Spirit and make room for the Spirit, but there must be the understanding. The Spirit works in connection with spiritual understanding. It may seem to be making room for the Spirit, but it is not doing so according to chapter 14 [p. 214] of 1 Corinthians, which governs activity in the assembly. There it is contemplated that I speak with intelligence, as well as with spiritual power. But, as I said, attention was called to the Spirit, and instead of recognising Him as here and sufficient for everything, the leaders of Protestantism turned to the civil powers and asked for accommodation. They got accommodation from the temporal powers.
GE That was a ‘by-path’ that you were referring to this afternoon?
JT Exactly; they were turned aside, because in the recognition of the perfection of spiritual power, which is referred to here, there was no need to turn to the civil powers for accommodation. The Holy Spirit is enough for us. Well, these are all features in this wonderful appearing of John that led up to what we get in the end — that is, Philadelphia — the assembly which comes in for the Lord’s approval. He complains of nothing.
AH Sardis was not complete, that is where the failure came in. “I have not found thy works complete before my God”.
JT No, nor are they. No works are complete which do not go on to the assembly. That is the great terminus. No ministry is complete that does not lead up to Christ and the assembly, and Protestantism does not lead up to Christ and the assembly. There is certain light in it; Sardis had received much — for light was given at the Reformation, remarkable light — but there was no moving forward. Take the Anglican ritual, not to go beyond that. It is like the pool of Bethesda; it is only as an angel comes in and stirs things up that there is any life, any movement. The part of the ritual that was said three hundred years ago at Easter is the same as is said today. That is not going on to spiritual perfection.
JS I have had an exercise of a kind. I do not [p. 215] think we have very much understanding of the position of the remnant just now. We seem to be very vague as to how that applies to us.
JT Well, if we are anything at all now, we are not exactly a remnant of Thyatira; we are a remnant of something less pretentious, really a remnant of the movement of last century. But I think it is of great moment to see that this appearing of the Lord to John, in its bearing on Sardis calls attention to the Spirit in its sevenfold perfection.
WP Does recovery in that connection consist in getting back to that thought — to the acknowledgment and recognition of the Spirit?
JT I think that is the ministry that Protestantism has failed to recognise. The Lord called attention to the Spirit; the overcomer takes that up, as having an ear to hear, but the mass fail in it. So that, “I have not found thy works complete before my God”. The Spirit was not recognised.
WW In Luke 2, when the Lord was born, the official side had broken down completely, had it not? But there were conditions there to receive the Lord, and I think that answers to the present time.
JT Simeon went into the Temple by the Spirit.
WW Yes, but he was not one of the officials, was he?
JT No, that is right. Of all the high priestly family in Jerusalem, there was not one qualified to receive the Child into the temple; it was Simeon, who was not an official priest at all.
WP Do those who thus received the Lord represent the remnant of the remnant in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day?
JT Just so. What Luke calls attention to is the quality, not the quantity, of what was there. It is a very delightful picture, the group of persons that is presented to us there. When the Lord comes again shall He find a company like that? It [p. 216] is not a question of the number, but the quality.
GE There were those that were found in Malachi, who had the secret of the Lord, merged into Luke.
JT Luke is the continuation of that remnant, who feared the Lord, and spoke of Him to one another.
WP Is that what you meant when you said that if we were a remnant of anything, we are a remnant of the movement within the last hundred years?
JT That is what I understand. I think that this word to Sardis is of immense importance, because Protestantism still remains. The Lord is bearing testimony to the presence of the Spirit constantly through one and another, and there is enough in the Spirit to support the people of God without worldly accommodation.
GE That is what marks the present dispensation, would you say?
JT Yes, exactly, and we may be sure that, as in the light of Christ and the assembly, our salvation depends on the recognition of the Spirit. He is sufficient to support us right to the end.
WP It will lead us on to completeness.
JT Exactly. The completeness is seen in the last chapter of this book, when the Spirit and the bride say, “Come”. He has led her on to completeness; she is prepared to meet the Lord; she wishes the Lord to come into His rights; that is true assembly state, whether it be seen in few or many. The point is not the number, but the state. It is the Spirit that maintains that.
JS Would you give us a little connection between the move of last century and the move in connection with Luther?
JT I think that Luther’s ministry fits in with the remnant of Thyatira, but then that culminates in Sardis. Sardis is the direct outcome, historically, of that movement, and it is to Sardis that the Lord [p. 217] speaks about His having the seven Spirits of God, not to Thyatira. Attention was called to the Spirit, which was neglected, and the result was that the works were not complete. Protestantism never went on to the assembly; it could not from the very nature of things. The very term itself is a denial of the truth of the assembly, because it is a negative thing — a protest in which the civil powers were involved and in which they were reckoned upon.
GE That shut the Spirit out.
JT It automatically shut the Spirit of God out.
JS Was there not as much exercise in regard to the headship of Christ as the gift of the Spirit?
JT Oh, there was, but the Lord has called attention to the means of support, I think, here, so that the people of God in those days did not need to ask accommodation from the civil powers. They did not need to do it; it was tantamount to saying that the Lord had not furnished them with enough means; they were short, and they asked accommodation, and they got it, and it meant their bondage, their thraldom. Well, now, I think there was a continual ministry. The address to Sardis was amplified and applied throughout the whole period until the revival in which Christ as Head in heaven was brought into evidence, and the assembly as the vessel of the Spirit. That, I think, is where Philadelphia comes in, because the Lord says, “Thou hast a little power” — not the perfection of power, but a little, because He is taking account, not of the Holy Spirit personally, but of what they had come into subjectively. I have power only in the measure in which I have come into the thing subjectively.
WP Would a little power be in contrast to the beginning we see in Acts?
JT Yes, that was great power. “With great power did the apostles give witness”. Acts 4:33. Now, it is “little”!
HM There are those appearings which delight our hearts, but in connection with Sardis, the Lord says He will come as a thief, so that Protestantism is losing what it did have, is it not?
JT She is treated as the world. He comes to her as He comes to the world; but there were a few names, and it is beautiful to see how the Lord, as He surveys the whole field, claims His own. “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”.
JS They represent the remnant, then?
JT I think so. Take a man like John Bunyan, well known to us; he is a representative of many in those days. A great deal of work went on that we have no record of. Many hymns that are extant bear witness to the spiritual exercises there were.
JS The Lord will give credit for every bit of fidelity there was.
JT He does. That is a feature in John’s ministry, that every little bit of the work of God is taken account of. Nicodemus, for instance.
JS It seems to me that the further we go, the more every exercised soul is apart from all that represents Protestantism. In that way he has left the line of protest. Luther was very much connected with it.
JT The Lord would bring us into accord with the dispensation, and that is not marked by protest. Luke represents the dispensation of God, and instead of protesting he carefully avoids anything that would arouse resentment, or prejudice, in his ministry. I believe true recovery means that we have come back to the idea of the dispensation, and that is that you are full of grace and truth — grace first, and grace is not protest. Grace is that where there should have been protest — that is, Jerusalem after the death of Christ — there is no protest; it is beginning at [p. 219] Jerusalem; repentance and remission of sins are preached to all nations. So that the idea of protest does not fit.
JS I think that is important, because now and again you find persons who have been walking with us step out on the line of protest.
JT Yes. The principle of the dispensation really is overcoming evil with good; and you must have the good to overcome, and that can only be in the recognition of the Spirit; so that Philadelphia is said to have a little power.
WW The overcoming evil with good is bringing in the positive instead of the negative. To protest is a negative line of things.
JT It is.
Ques Was there something in your mind with regard to power?
JT Well, I think that that makes a test as to what Philadelphia is; you find the power. There is a mark, you see. He says, “Behold, I have set before thee an opened door which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power”. It is because there is a little power, for what would be the use of opening the door unless there was power to go through it?
Ques Is it power in defending, more than aggression?
JT I think it is more in setting out the dispensation. You see, the man at the pool of Bethesda — you might open the door for him, but he could not step into the pool. He had no power. Well, Philadelphia has the power, and hence the Lord says, “I have set before thee an opened door”. It is an opened door, meaning that it had been shut. His hand has done it.
WP Is it in view of going out to declare grace and truth?
JT I think so. I think it is to come on to the purpose of God; no doubt it is also to preach, to testify to [p. 220] the character of the dispensation.
EMW How had the door become shut?
JT The history shows that in Pergamos and Thyatira certain influences got control, and they shut the door against the further ministry of the Spirit. You cannot have an open door where clericalism is dominant. To be simple and practical and open, the very idea of clericalism shuts the door to free spiritual ministry.
Rem “Ye have taken away the key of knowledge”, it says.
JT Just so. You cannot have free ministry of the Spirit where clericalism is recognised as the ruling principle, so that the Lord has come in and opened the door. He had every key, and He set before her an opened door. There has now been liberty for spiritual ministry for one hundred years.
HM When the Lord presents Himself to us as having the key of David, what are we to understand?
JT I think the word ‘key’ in Scripture denotes administrative authority. Peter had the keys of the kingdom; that is, he had authority to open and to administer it, and he did. Now David stands in Scripture for administration. You will observe in the gospel of Matthew that David is placed before Abraham. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ”. Matthew 1:1. In the chronology we would ordinarily say, “Son of Abraham”, and then “Son of David”, but instead of that it is “Son of David” first, because the point of view is administration. David was the great administrator in Israel. And so in the genealogy as you come to David it says, “David the king”. We all know he is the king, but the Spirit of God wishes to call our attention to the fact that that is the point. You see, he is the king.
WP Reminding us that the Spirit of God had the great Administrator before Him.
JT That is it — that is what Matthew had in view, and so here the principle of administration is noticed at once. “He that has the key of David”. “I open and no one can shut”. He has also the keys of hades. “I have the keys of death and of hades”. Revelation 1:18. Now, if we really understand these keys, we shall be able to meet in our souls the current wickedness of spiritism. It is making far more headway than many Christians are aware of. But the Lord here notifies us, and all in the profession, that He has the keys of death and hades. And yet man pretends that he can dip down into hades and communicate with departed ones there, as if the Lord were to open the door for him to do it. I do not know of anything that refutes spiritism more effectively than the fact that the Lord has the keys of death and hades. What can they do if He has the key? Can they open without His key? Well, then, when you come to the key of David you come to what is blessedly possible. He has the administration of all the wealth of heaven, and that is what He is bringing in at the present time.
GE Would that be what would mark those of the synagogue of Satan?
JT I think so; all that is taken into account. The Lord says, “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan who 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”. What an encouragement to every lover of Christ, to every member of the assembly!
GE You say they were Jews. Would they be keeping up a Jewish form?
JT Oh, no; it is more that they claimed to be the historical people of God, those who claim to be the normal successors of the early assembly. They are the historical church — Jews. But the synagogue of Satan was there.
Ques Is it in a religious way?
JT Yes; it is satanic power, and the Lord [p. 222] is dealing with it. The overcomer in this assembly is contemplated as appreciative of the things that Christ appreciates. It is very beautiful to see how the overcomer in Philadelphia is regarded as valuing what belongs to Christ. He says to the overcomer, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my new name”. To my mind it is extremely precious that the Lord takes account of you as valuing what belongs to Him. It is true assembly state. You value what belongs to Christ. It is the temple of His God, the city of His God, the name of His God, and His own Name.
GE So that there never was a day like the present. There is an opportunity for the faithful to stand true to Christ.
JT I am sure that is right; the promise to the overcomer in Philadelphia is an immense encouragement for every lover of Christ. He is telling us how much He values our love and faithfulness, and we are to have things that are in relation to Him.
GE And for that cause, before the great tribulation sets in, He will come in and save them from that.
JT Quite. We have indicated the features of the wife, the confidante. She thinks only of what concerns Him, she values what He values. So that I think the overcomer in Philadelphia culminates in the wife. “The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready”. Revelation 19:7. She knows what suits Him now, and she has made herself ready.
GE Like the wise woman in Proverbs.
JT Just so.
EAM What is it to keep “the word of my patience”?
JT The Lord is patiently waiting for the full [p. 223] results of His death, but He is subject as regards it, and He is patient in it. That is all expressed in the word of His patience, and we are in accord with that. We do not wish the dispensation to close, we wish the Lord to come — He says here, “I come quickly” — nevertheless we are in the mind of God about it, and we do not wish anything altered.
AH It says “the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ”. Revelation 1:19.
JT Just so, John was in that.
AH Is that what it means, “direct your hearts into the love of God and the patience of Christ”? 2 Thessalonians 3:5.
JT That is just what it means, “the patience of Christ”.
HM Then as to the pillar, is it not one who is made like Christ? He was the support of everything for God, was He not? And we see the overcomers standing up as pillars in the temple, so that all the beautiful things seen in the temple are supported by the overcomer?
JT Very beautiful. Certain ones were seen to be pillars, the apostle says. The overcomer comes in for that.
WP It makes it so exceedingly precious, because it is “the temple of my God”.
JT Well, it just means practically now that you are Supporting the features of the temple.
JS As far as quality is concerned, would you look for something greater at the end than at the beginning?
JT Well, I do not know that I should. I have an immense admiration, and I am sure you have, for the early chapters of the Acts. It is difficult to think of anything greater than the devotedness and unity and energy and love seen there. Added to that, you have the Ephesian state. It seems as if the idea of the remnant is that it is part, as has often been remarked, of the original; it is like the [p. 224] original.
JS I thought in Ezra and Nehemiah you seem to take up divine principles in a way that they had not been taken up before in Israel’s history.
JT Well, that may be, and certain things are said to go back to the book of Joshua, rather than to David’s time, but still there was the book of Joshua. Another thing is that in the past dispensation, as it drew near to the present, there was a backward reflection, so that you have Anna definitely said to be speaking of Christ to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. You hardly get anything like that in the Old Testament, although the prophets all testified to that.
JS That is more what I meant. It seems to me that Simeon and Anna had greater light than anyone who went before.
JT Well, I think they did as they drew nearer to Christ. You see, the assembly is set up in the full light of Christ. “I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”. Acts 20:27. And she was set up in affection in that relation, so that it is difficult to conceive of anything greater than that.
Rem The Lord can specially illuminate the hearts of His people now.
JT Well, I think He does. But there could be nothing greater than what Paul refers to when he shows unto them the whole counsel of God.
JS I do not think it would be greater. I think the Lord credits the whole, with the faithful ones, at the end.
AH So that the Spirit and the bride say, “Come”.
JT That is right; there will be full correspondence, I think, in state with the beginning. The bride will be there, but, then, she was there at the beginning.
GE Then as to the present condition of things [p. 225] in connection with Laodicea, would you say that the darker the day the brighter the light?
JT Yes, it is the time of the “good figs”. The good figs are very good, and the bad ones very bad. The whole state of the professing church is round about us. You have to contend with the whole state of the professing body.
AH That is, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea go on to the end.
JT So the word is, “Hold fast what thou hast that no man take thy crown”. In the Ephesian state the downward drift began. Even in the millennium, there is a drift down from the thirteen bullocks to the seven. So that the overcomer now would maintain the full number of bullocks, so to speak; he would have that standard before him.
GE Then we must always recognise that we are a part of the breakdown.
JT We are, quite. What one might remark about Laodicea is that it brings out the unchanging grace of Christ; in spite of all that He must say about her, He counsels her to buy of Him gold tried in the fire. He says, in effect, ‘I have it, and am willing to sell it to you’. He does not say that to Thyatira. And then, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten”; that is, in His love. Then, “I stand at the door and am knocking; if anyone hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”. He is the faithful and true witness here.
GE In the last phase He is outside.
JT Yes, and He is witnessing to the character of the dispensation. He is maintaining grace; He is overcoming evil with good.
HM Where the conditions are the worst, He presents Himself in the most gracious way.
JT He does, indeed, and your exercise and mine [p. 226] is to be in accord with His attitude, because He does this through those who are faithful.
AH Is He doing it through His people?
JT I think so.
HM So that all the presentations are meant to be formative. They characterise those who get them. I was thinking of the Song of Solomon. The result of all the presentations is that her heart is captivated more and more, and the end is seen. They say, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved?” Song of Songs 8:5. It is a sight for heaven to see the people of God, as the results of His presentation, moving heavenward in connection with Himself, accompanying Him, is it not?
JT Quite. So that John is the characteristic overcomer. The Lord says “Fear not”. He laid His right hand on him, meaning that the overcomer right through would have His support, and if you have part with Him, as He proposed, you would be in accord with all these features that He presents.