"THAT NO ONE TAKE THY CROWN"
“THAT NO ONE TAKE THY CROWN”
Revelation 1: 12 - 20; Revelation 3: 7 - 13
I have read this section in Revelation 3 because of verse 11, “Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”. All that I have to say will centre around that verse, as bearing on this great moment; I mean the present moment, and all that enters into it, so as to impress us here at this time with the great responsibility resting upon us; that no one may regard themselves as irresponsible, but each one knowing what rests upon him, accepting it and doing what it involves. Luke begins his second treatise, as you will all remember, by mentioning what the Lord began both to do and to teach, doing first and then teaching. It is our hope that the teaching may proceed, the teaching that began, as John records, with the Lord Jesus who, as here in the flesh, is called Teacher in the early pages of that gospel. Mary Magdalene takes up the thought and furnishes a word that is peculiar, saying, “Rabboni”; He was her Teacher; not simply that He was a Teacher, but He was hers. In the case of Mary of Bethany, we have the anointing of the Lord’s head; this is mentioned by more than one evangelist, and of her it is said that “she hath done what she could”, Mark 14: 8. That is a word, dear brethren, that I would seek to impress upon us all, “She hath done what she could”. She anointed the Lord’s head, which would mean that she recognised the divine intelligence that was there and available for her. Elsewhere she is seen sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing what He said. That came in after the wonderful scene on the mount, called the mount of transfiguration, where the voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, hear him”; that word should impress us; “Hear him”.
[p. 205] Following this the Lord said of Mary as she sat listening to His word, “Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her”; Luke 10. Such expressions by the Lord would refer to His power, and what He will do, as we see it here in the passage I have read, when He speaks of Himself as the One “who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open”. As with Mary, the good part could not be taken from her, so we can see, dear brethren, how the Lord would impress us with the impregnability of the protection He affords us, and the defence and support too that He affords us, so that we need not fear. Another word that is to be noted specially, occurring in the holy pages from the Old Testament and down to the Lord’s last writings to the assembly, is “Fear not”. The present situation politically, industrially, socially and financially is full of fear, but the Lord’s word to us, I am assured, is “Fear not”. I spoke of it before I crossed the Atlantic this time, I felt it was a word to the brethren in America, and I say it to you, dear brethren, now; the atmosphere all round us is charged with fear, nations fearing each other industrially, and otherwise; but the word to us is “Fear not”. That word carries with it almighty power, almighty protection, whatever scientific men, so-called, may say, whatever dangers exist, and the hidden dangers, they are not intended to cause us to fear.
I have taken up these scriptures, as I said, with the thought before me of the word of the Lord to His assembly, saying to her, “Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown”. That word comes like the blast of a trumpet in war, like the silver trumpets in the book of Numbers which were to be employed in the case of war. I intend to compass all the verses read in some sense and particularly [p. 206] because of John. You may say, It should be because of the Lord, and of course it is; but the Lord is pleased to distinguish His own bondmen, and they are to be in mind, not always, but prominent at certain times. At times when love is in question John is in evidence; he is the disciple whom Jesus loved, which clearly would mean that he was a lover, he understood love, one of the most important things to understand. John quotes the Lord as saying, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13:35. This is what marks off Christianity from all other associations or societies; it has love in it, and John the evangelist, the writer of the gospel and the three epistles bearing his name, was the actual writer of this book.
The Lord is Himself the designer of the book and the author of it too, but He tells John how to write it. It is remarkable that John should be taken up in this peculiar way as a writer; in fact it is John who says, that if all the things which Jesus did were written, he supposed that “even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written”. But he said, “These are written”, that is to say, he calls attention to his own composition, and, of course, a servant whom the Lord employs in this sense ought not to be ashamed to call attention to his own words; if the Lord is not ashamed of them he need not be himself. So John says, “These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; [p. 207] and that believing ye might have life in his name”. Many things are to be held in His name; salvation is in His name, life is in His name. The great question of life which the Lord Himself has brought up within the memory of some of us, the great question of eternal life, is still a burning question and will be till the end. So John says, “These are written that ye may believe ... and that believing ye might have life in his name”; a precious suggestion that you hold, that victory is in the name of the Lord Jesus, and is a matter of life.
It is in order that I should thus speak, because of what the Lord says to John here. It really is a conversation, as you might say, between the Lord and John, who in sitting down to carry out his holy task of writing this book, places certain verses at the outset; a foreword for us so as to introduce us into the great subject of the Apocalypse, a subject which came in late in the history of revelation. Things had begun to wane and flag; disloyalty had come in. It is recorded in Mark 13 that He said that neither the angels nor Himself knew certain things; that is, the day and the hour of His coming; only the Father knew. This is one of the most interesting matters, and undoubtedly His words link on with this wonderful book called the Apocalypse which is said to have been given to Him by God. John, in writing this book, embellishes it at the outset, calling attention to the Deity and other matters in relation to God, and to the assembly too; so that we are introduced into the book with most blessed suggestions. In verse 4 we read, “John to the seven churches which are in Asia”, and then he speaks of the blessing which is ours, saying that God has “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages, Amen. Behold he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they which have pierced him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of him. Yea. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, he who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”. These are assertions of Deity, of Him “who is, and who was, and who is to come”.
[p. 208] We can see how nobly John served his Lord and Master in writing this book, and in doing what was needed in order to present it to be read. He adds a premium to the reading of it, which we ought to take notice of. It is hardly found anywhere else, but in this book. This book is to be read; not to be thought by anyone as too hard to be understood, but to be read and read and read again. It will be understood as we read it; as Habakkuk says of his prophecy “that he may run that readeth it” (chapter 2: 2). This book is written for that purpose, because these are most urgent times and they are short too. The Lord says in the verse 1 had particularly in mind that the crown might be snatched from us, so that we are to be continually on the alert, so that we may not be robbed of our greatest distinction. We are not told what the crown is, and that makes it all the more precious. We are to see to it that it is not snatched from us, stolen from us. We are to be always on the alert, to be doing; that is the principle.
So, as I said, John is taken up by the Lord, and he says, “I turned to see the voice”, showing that he was an alert attendant to what was being done. Earlier he says that he heard a voice behind him, but here he turned to see the voice, a remarkable thing, and then he tells us what he did see. I mention things in this order for the sake especially of the young ones, because they are the coming generation; one generation passes away and another comes; that is going on constantly, yet the Lord at the very beginning of the dispensation said, “Surely I come quickly”. We have to understand that. It was said to the eunuch, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” we have to understand the statements of Scripture. So the Lord said, “Surely I come quickly”. If He had said that 1800 years ago, He meant that certain things must happen. He is under the Father’s orders in a sense, but nevertheless personally equal with the Father; that is ever to be stressed, that divine Persons are equal. This eleventh verse is in mind, and it is intended to affect us as if it was said today. It is to cause us to be on the alert, to be doing things that should be done, doing them at once and doing them well.
As John undertakes his task, he says, “I turned to see the voice”. There may have been many things on the horizon that might have diverted him, but he was not diverted; he turned to see the voice, and what he saw was similar to what Isaac saw when Rebecca was coming; instead of noting that Rebecca was coming, Isaac, we are told, saw the camels coming. So here, what John sees first are the candlesticks. Isaac saw what carried Rebecca, and John saw that in the midst of which the Lord Jesus Himself was; namely, in the midst of the golden candlesticks; in other words, in the midst of the assemblies; that is where He is. The Lord Jesus speaks about it as regards the service of God saying, “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. You may say, ‘I can praise God anywhere’; but He says, “In the midst of the assembly”. Let us understand that, and let us be ready to join in the song. “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, shows that in the Lord’s mind, the assembly is essential. It was not essential to the creation primarily, nor even to the creation described in Genesis 1; not even angels are seen in the work in Genesis 1. God Himself said, “Let there be light, and there was light”. God did it; in truth it was the Lord Jesus. I say with joy and glory, that the Lord Jesus is said to have created all things and “without him not one thing received being that has received being”; and so John does not record any assistance, as it were, in the creation. But when we come to the assembly, then persons are [p. 210] brought into the divine economy in which the Father and the Son are operating, as the Lord says Himself, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”. Then presently the apostles were brought in, they too were workers, and we are all brought in, every one who has the Holy Spirit is brought in.
John was brought in in a peculiar way, as I said, so he says, “I turned to see the voice”, and what he saw was seven golden lamps or candlesticks and “in the midst of the seven lamps one like the Son of man”. As there the Lord is now intent on an operation which is described throughout the book and He is taking the saints with Him, the assembly is with Him. There may be things He does alone, I quite admit that, but in general the position is that the saints have part in the divine operations, and that is what John saw, “seven golden lamps and in the midst of the seven lamps one like the Son of man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet”. How marvellous these verses are! and John says, “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not”. I have already touched upon it, and I am sure the Lord would dispel from our hearts every kind of fear; instead of that the word is, “Fear God”. “Fear not those who kill the body and after this have no more that they can do”. Although the cities may be wiped out, as men speak, yet after that they have no more that they can do. “Yea, I say to you, fear him”, that is, God.
Now John says, “When I saw him I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last and the living one: and I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of hades”. In approaching this wonderful book in this way through the servant whom the Lord is pleased to signalise by causing him to write [p. 211] it, our minds are disabused of fear: we are to rest in the knowledge of God. “Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?” We are to train ourselves, and so face the situation as it is, full of anxieties to the natural man, but none for us, we are to be without fear. And so the Lord says to John here, “Fear not”, and then He tells him why he should not fear, saying, “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”. Sometimes we hear men say they have visited the dead. They are just lying; for it is not true. The Lord Himself has the keys of hades, which is the place of the dead at the present time provisionally; and of death, which is the final place. Will He give the keys to these wicked men? These so-called scientific men think that they can find the dead, the wicked dead, and it may be, assume they can speak to them! These things are diabolical, they are just lies, and we are to disabuse our minds of such things so as to be without fear. The Lord lays His right hand on John and says to him, “I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore”. Then he says, “Write ...” He says to John, I am about to employ you, and I wish you to write according to My direction.
Now I pass on to chapter 3, just to show how this matter spoken of in verse 11 is reached, and I want to leave the brethren with this verse at the close of this remarkable time we have had. We are to hold fast what we have; “hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown”. The Lord is, as I was saying, implying that we are not to be robbed; not indeed that we are to put things under lock and key, so to speak; that is not the idea. We are not told what the crown is that is alluded to. We were saying today that the saints themselves at times are called crowns, and there is no suggestion [p. 212] of their being hidden or concealed; they are to remain in the activity of love, and that is why they are called crowns. Any one of us could be a crown to the Lord Jesus or even to the saints; Paul says to the Philippians, “My brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown”. In addressing the assembly in Philadelphia the Lord Jesus calls Himself the holy and the true; the Lord Jesus is naming Himself thus. What thoughts to be in our hearts, holiness and truth! He says, ‘I have the key of David’, as much as to say, I am ready to attribute to you refinement spiritually, not worldly refinement, but refinement spiritually, that is what we get in Philadelphia. And so the Lord here refers to David, saying, “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”. The whole book has to be read in order to get at the thought of the Spirit of God as to David, and to see what characterises him.
The very best suggestions as to refinement are found in the Lord Jesus, they are found in the saints too in principle, because of the Spirit of God being in us. So He says, “I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. Our hearts should be thrilled with these thoughts, they are sobering and glorious, and they are also applicable to us, for we belong to the Lord Jesus, we belong to the assembly. So He says, “I Jesus ... testify these things to you in the assemblies”. He is dealing with the greatest things, and that is what I wish to impress all with. He says to Philadelphia, “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an opened door”. He has done it already, and it is for us to enter in, for it is a door “which no one can shut”. None can interfere with the Lord, He has almighty power. So He goes on to assure us that we are able to have to do with these matters,
and He says, “because thou hast a little power;” it is but a little of the real thing, but again, “and hast kept my word”; not My commandment, but My word; that which opens things up for us and illuminates us; “and hast not denied my name”. Life is in that Name, but many other things; salvation and all the matters relative to the service of God are in it. So that while we repudiate all mere officialism and clericalism as not of God, we revere the name of Jesus.
In Hebrews 8 Jesus is said to be “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man”, meaning that He has charge of all that. The Lord Jesus is Minister of the sanctuary; He is a priest according to John 6. Peter says to Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal; and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”; that is to say, He is the Priest of God, He is in charge of all the services and perfectly, infinitely capable, so He is the Minister. “We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens”; He has power and right to do it, to set Himself down as “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man”. And so here He would address the assembly at Philadelphia, which is the assembly viewed as marked by love, for Philadelphia means love, and it stands for the whole assembly in the Lord’s mind, and He is saying to them in a confidential way, “Thou hast kept the word of my patience”, and again, “Thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”. These are the things He attributes to us to encourage us, that we might not be afraid to go on. That is the principle governing all this and the Lord is with us to support us so that no one should take our crown. I am not telling you what [p. 214] it is; I cannot, though I may have my impressions, but it is “thy crown”. We are all of the assembly, let us hold to the thing, hold fast what we have. To further encourage us, He says, “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”. The Lord is saying this to the assembly in regard to these wicked persons who are agents of the devil, who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. He is urging us by all that, so that we may be sure that we do not lose our crown. We are to go on in the energy of faith according to what the Lord apportions us, and to work with our might, and thus we shall go straight into glory like a ship going into harbour in full sail. Then He says, “I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”. We are not to come into the great tribulation, that which will come upon all the earth; we will not be in it, the Lord will save us out of it. All this is in keeping with the previous verses; so that we may be sure that our crown is not taken away; we are to hold fast what we have. “Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown”.
I cannot say any more, but I just leave these matters, for I think they are most important. We are to go forward according to what we have. We are to add to it, of course; the Spirit of God is doing it, raising up men to do it, and let us hold fast what comes to us through them, and the Spirit of God will guide us into all truth, we can rely on that. He will take up this and that one, properly qualified, but He will guide us into all the truth.
May God bless the word to us all.