LIFE IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION (1)
[p. 296] LIFE IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION (1)
Revelation 1: 17 - 20; Revelation 2: 7, 10 (last sentence); Revelation 3: 5
JT The subject of life is not treated of formally in this book, but it is mentioned throughout informally, and it may help to look at it as applying to remnant times. The whole book is addressed to the assemblies that were in Asia at that time, seven mentioned by name, so that what is brought before us is of direct interest and importance to the saints of this dispensation. Although the book is prophetic, and deals very largely with what is coming hereafter, yet it is addressed to the saints of this dispensation, as responsible, and it is intended to instruct us in view of the apostasy that has already come in, and indeed had come in, in principle, when the book was written. The apostasy is not a modern thing; it began, we might almost say, in the apostles’ time. The second epistle to the Thessalonians treats of it as coming in before antichrist appears, but how long before is not definite. That epistle states that the mystery of iniquity already worked, and it has been here ever since; it has increased enormously in our own times, and this book whilst opening up the mind of God to us, unveiling the things that will happen, will fortify us in view of it. One of the most important things in it is life, because it is not only for enjoyment, but is a preservative; it preserves from corruption. That is what I had in mind.
CCE How do you develop that?
JT The thought of preserving is to be noted. Life is not only for enjoyment: it is essential for preservation in view of the general decay and corruption, so that the Lord speaks to John here, he being the servant who speaks as much about life as any. His ministry is full of the thought of life, opened up in his first epistle in an orderly way, and greatly amplified in his gospel. The Lord undoubtedly had that in mind in selecting John for this service. “He signified it ... to his bondman John,
who testified the word of God”. He is a trusted servant and one conversant with the great subject of life. He presents Christ as the life. The life as in Christ is first treated by itself: “That which was from the beginning”.
The Lord had this in mind and laid His right hand upon John, according to the first passage read, saying to him, “I am the first and the last, and the living one”; the living One. This is personal. Life in Him is inherent. He laid His right hand upon John and touched him, and in the sense of that touch of life, John was to write the book. It was written in the energy of life, his own feelings being brought into it. Then the Lord adds, “I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages”. These remarks really dominate the service of John; it is carried out in the sense of the touch of life; and that is essential in all ministry. He laid His right hand upon him, alluding no doubt to the power that was available to John, the power of the living One, living to the ages of ages. Then He tells him what to write, as if he is to do so in that feeling, the sense of life.
JAT Ministry cannot give life, I suppose, but where there is life it responds to the ministry.
JT It cannot give life, but ministry should be enhanced by life, it should be given in the sense of life. Before the Lord tells John what to write, this happens. We may minister from mere intellectual power, but it is to be done in a living way. The great clerical ministry, so called, is very largely a matter of doctrine or creed, without any thought of life; but this is in contrast to that.
CCE Sardis had a name to live, but was dead.
JT It is what marks the system, especially Protestantism. What is called worship, as carried on, is without any thought of freshness. The prayer-book is the same for every Sunday of every year, and hundreds of years have gone on like that. There is no suggestion of life. It is just words. “The kingdom of God”, the apostle says, “is not in word, but in power”. Hezekiah speaks of the living praising God — which he was doing.
[p. 298] The Lord is here seen as walking in the midst of the candlesticks, but in a particular garb, denoting distance and judgment. John was to write about that. Verses 17 and 18 allude to what is special to John, what is to affect him in view of what he was to write, that he might do so in a living way. And so we find the thought running through the book, the last chapter speaking about it as much as any — especially of the tree of life and the water of life.
CJB Do you suggest the imparting of life with His right hand?
JT It was the touch of His hand, a method that the Lord often employed. The Lord would identify Himself with His servant, not as an authority in heaven, but as the living One, who had been dead, and is now living. It is His present state. The touch would be to convey that to him.
W It is life seen in man in a substantial way.
JT Yes. John treats of life as a substantial thing. He begins his first epistle with the neuter pronoun: “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard ... that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life”, 1 John 1: 1. It refers to Christ personally.
W “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”.
JT He is here laying His hand on His servant; it is a living touch.
SC At the sight of Him, John became as one dead.
JT The garb was new to John. It was so different from the way he knew the Lord. He had leant on His breast, but now he could not do that. The Lord is seen in a judicial garment. But the Lord would reassure him, for John was in his place, a devoted servant, suffering on account of the testimony; there was nothing there to judge, so these two verses (17 and 18) are for John himself, and of course for all servants who seek to serve the Lord faithfully. These judicial garments have no [p. 299] reference to those who love Jesus, but to the general profession become apostate; although of course all are responsible as to this. The Lord says, I am thoroughly identified with you. You may have to touch the apostasy in your ministry, but the Lord identifies Himself with every true servant. We see that in the case of Jeremiah: he was made as a strong brazen wall, and the Lord was with him. And so with Ezekiel, his forehead was made hard as an adamant, as testifying to rebellious Israel.
CCE What a difference it would make if all the great ecclesiastical dignitaries would do what John did here, fall at His feet, instead of maintaining their dignity!
JT They wear showy garments also, as if to take the place of judgment, like the Lord.
In this it is not the doctrine, but the concrete idea of life. That is what marks off christianity from the religions of the world. These have nothing substantial, nothing but the doctrine or creed. What the Scriptures present is substantial in Christ, a real Man. We have heard Him, seen Him, handled Him, says the apostle. And now this is life out of death. Christ as in deity could say, “I am ... the living one” but, having become Man, He has actually been dead, and now lives again, and this is life that man can participate in. In His life before He died none could participate; now He is in risen life and we can have part in that. Eternal life is life out of death, seen in One who is out of death.
CJB Is that so in principle as John falls at His feet as dead?
JT John takes the place suitable to the circumstances. In John 13 he is in a different position. But now the Lord’s attitude is judicial, and it is suitable to take a place at His feet. For we all have a share in that which the Lord is judging, the state of christendom; although we may be personally immune from it, it is right to humble ourselves in regard of it.
[p. 300] In the beginning of the first epistle, John speaks of life as being personified in Christ. It is brought in here informally, but sometimes an informal introduction helps us more than a formal one. The thought of the living One here is to encourage John; he would know what that meant. It is proper, however, when we are in the midst of judicial circumstances, to take our place with the rest. The Lord did that when John was baptising. “It becometh us”, He said, “to fulfil all righteousness”. It was righteous. So the most spiritual man today accepts responsibility in relation to the apostasy; and God honours that. We are not overwhelmed by it, but face it in the power of life. John is called upon to write, and the word is for us therefore, in regard to ministry or any endeavour to help the saints. Let everything be done in the power of life.
FJF Would that characterise the ministry that the Lord is giving in these last days? It would be a living ministry that should touch people.
JT That is what I think is brought out. The idea of life developed into the idea of eternal life. Particularly now in regard to ministry, things are to be living.
W One needs to be living to eat the sin offering, as John here.
JT It is as having life that you can appropriate death. “My flesh is truly food and my blood is truly drink”, the Lord says in John 6. Appropriation of Christ as having died, that is the food for life. Then He speaks of those who eat Him as living by Him: that is, eating Him as risen. But there is the appropriating Him in death; “I became dead”, He says here. It is not the Lord’s supper that is in view in John 6, but the Lord in death as food for life. He gives his flesh for the life of the world. That is, He became dead. His flesh and blood are to be eaten. What food to appropriate!
Now if we have the ministry in this book clearly understood as taking on the character of life, the next thing is the overcomer in the declining church. In verse [p. 301] 7 of the next chapter we have the tree of life to be eaten: “I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. That is also food and is the next part of our subject.
W I suppose the Lord Himself is the Tree of Life?
JT Quite so. The second reference is to the overcomer in the failing church, and the lovers of Christ are provided for in the tree of life — a beautiful thought, extending back to Genesis and running through to the end of this book. It is an apprehension of Christ as bearing fruit: beautiful fruit, to be appropriated; it is a delicate, refined thought that is very appropriate to an Ephesian overcomer, because an overcomer in Ephesus would be able to enjoy the most refined things.
W All the apostles would be overcomers, would they not?
JT No doubt, but the point here is the overcomer in that particular church. The church as a whole had lost her first love; there was definite decline, noticed only by spiritual persons. A spiritual christian is a refined person. It is refinement that is in view here; not living by the mere essentials of life. There is this delicate fruit, it is for enjoyment. The tree of life speaks of Christ in His own sphere, the paradise of God. There the tree is seen in its beauty, not only in itself, but, as it were, surrounded by all the other trees in the paradise of God.
FJF Is it the highest thought of life that is presented in the tree of life?
JT I think so. And it is where it is, in the paradise of God. Anything offered to an overcomer would be something that he cherishes. The epistle to the Ephesians opens up the highest thoughts; anyone can see that in reading it. An overcomer in that church is a person who cherishes all this; he is not giving up anything, and he would understand what the Lord meant in saying: “I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. One might say it is enough to have [p. 302] the tree of life, but the Ephesian understands the Lord’s mind as saying, “in the paradise of God”. That is the supreme place.
MA Caleb and Joshua brought back of the fruit they had found in the land.
JT It was the fruit of Canaan; the point was where it grew. That is important, for it is not only the things themselves, but where they are. God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing”, but where? In the heavenlies. The supreme thought is connected with place.
FJF The surroundings are in agreement with what is eaten.
JT Yes, there is nothing to distress the heart. Paul says, “I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago ... caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man ... that he was caught up into paradise”, 2 Corinthians 12: 2 - 4. The preposition is changed, it is not as far as, but into. He was there. The first reference is simply to elevation — as far as that; but the second is the place of enjoyment; and that helps us here. It is actually in the paradise of God.
CMP Is it said to be the paradise of God because it is the place of God’s joy?
JT Yes, it is a question of what God regards as paradise. What a place of delight! And the tree of life is there. We are to bear in mind that it is the Ephesian overcomer that is contemplated here.
W That is the Spirit’s voice at the present time. We have the Urim and the Thummim today in Christ. As we hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies we get the mind of God.
JT Yes. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”. Not to any particular church, but to all of them; so that what he says to the overcomer in the church at Ephesus is for me to hear. It is not what the Spirit will say, or has said, but what He says. What the Lord says is written down in these few chapters, but what the Spirit says is not written [p. 303] down: it is the opening up of what has been said by the Lord. And that is what we need at this moment. The Spirit keeps on ministering. It is to be noted that the Lord says, “I will give to him to eat”. That is, there is a link with the Lord Himself in it.
FJF Would the way in which first love is maintained in the heart be by the eating?
JT I think the appropriation of Christ viewed in the exalted way we have spoken of is presented here. It is not, as in John’s first epistle, what He was. It is what and where He is now. It is a very exalted thought, intended to sustain us in the light of Ephesians.
JAI To go back a little to what you were saying about preservation, would that be in the ministry of the Spirit at the moment?
JT Yes, that is what preserves. There are “ten thousand instructors” and sermons in proportion, but they do not stir up spiritual affections. The ministry of the Spirit does, and so preserves us from decay and corruption.
JAI You can only preserve what is good.
JT Quite so. Life is really the greatest preserver there is, and when it disappears, how quickly corruption sets in. “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead”. Sardis is dead, and that is the secret of the deadness of the ministry generally today.
FJF The first mention of life is in connection with everything that liveth “and moveth”.
JT Yes. There was vegetable life on the third day, but the word life appears first on the fifth day. The fish and the fowls are the second things in the creation, as we have it, that are said to have been created. That was on the fifth day. The fishes seem to have been beyond the range of the flood: they are not said to have died. There must be some thought in it figuratively of life going through in an abstract way. The living things filled the waters; there are living activities. They were created on [p. 304] the fifth day, and following on that the word “created” is mentioned specifically only of man.
Ques Do you mean that the fishes were carried beyond the flood?
JT Yes, and life has also gone through in the ark, which represents Christ; but I think the principle is abstractly represented in the fish. They did not come under judgment, they went through.
Now in verse 10 we come to the crown of life. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give to thee the crown of life”, is said to the assembly in Smyrna. The Lord introduces Himself to that assembly, as you will notice: “These things says the first and the last, who became dead, and lived”, (verse 8). He is speaking to persons about to undergo terrible persecution, and many of them would be killed. So they were to know that He had been dead. But, He says, I lived. It is a historic statement. Things are on a lower level here than in Ephesus. The historic facts of the Lord’s death and resurrection — that He became dead and lived — are brought in, that the saints might be supported. But it is not as elevated a thought as the tree of life. Things had got low in the public body, and the Lord takes account of that. Ministry that they can take in is presented. The great historic facts of His death and resurrection are presented, and He promises a crown of life, which would fit in with the mind of persons who were suffering such persecution.
RSM Is the tree of life a future reward or is it present? I notice this crown is future.
JT Both statements are in the same form: “I will give to him to eat of the tree of life”. But these things are now laid hold of. The crown will undoubtedly appear by and by, but the necessity of eating is present, so that we might be sustained in the light of Ephesians. But things are on a lower ground in Smyrna.
FJF Would you say that hope is brought into view in these conditions?
[p. 305] JT I think it is to inspire hope, the crown at the end. It is the historic side, the fundamental truth of the gospel, not so much bringing the actual living Christ near. The facts of His death and resurrection are pressed.
CCE As a matter of historic fact, we know that this is what did sustain the witnesses — the thoughts of Christ having been through death and of His resurrection were really a great comfort, and enabled them to go through.
JT That in which the soul rests is accredited facts, the foundation of God, which stands. Sometimes people are apt to give up, because they have not the enjoyment of things on account of circumstances. Then the soul finds support in solid facts.
FJF The epistle to the Hebrews brings forward the thought of hope.
JT Hebrews is very much like this. Things were low down and the saints were suffering, exposed to persecution; and so they were to be supported by the solid facts of the gospel.
Ques What is the thought connected with the crown of life?
JT Well, these promises are to persons who would understand them and cherish and value them. If your life is about to be taken in martyrdom, as was the case here, what a great thought life beyond death is! And this is the crown of it. I have no doubt this would sustain every martyr. In the understanding and appropriation of this promise, martyrdom would be victory.
RT Their lives were considered worthless, but the Lord would show them that they were worth something to Him.
JT If you think of all the awful feelings of enmity that surrounded the martyrs, you will see how greatly they needed to be sustained and to have their feet on the solid ground of the truth of the gospel and the faithfulness of God. They would find comfort in the thought of the crown of life, for there is nothing higher than the [p. 306] crown in relation to anything. It is victory, for as losing their lives here they were coming into life in this supreme way. Nor is it something that would exist for a little while only; it is incorruptible and unfading, as Peter says.
CMP The Lord shows sympathy: “I know thy tribulation and thy poverty; but thou art rich”.
JT And how comforting, too, that however severe the pressure might be, it was definitely ordered and was for a time! That enters into the smallest suffering I am enduring; it is limited: the Lord allows it to go so far and no further.
W The three young Hebrew men in the furnace would be in the enjoyment of life, in the company of the Son of God.
JT Yes. The fourth is the Son of God; John’s gospel specially brings in the Son of God. What victory! There was not even a smell of fire on them. The crown of life was there.
C He will make the issue.
JT Quite so. God is faithful, who will make an issue. These ten days would show the Lord’s supremacy in the whole matter. For, after all, the enemy is only doing His work. No doubt these tribulations were needed to revive the failing church. They were severe and extended, but the Lord was with His people in them, endearing Himself to them and giving them victory.
W The christians were brighter under Nero than under Constantine.
JT Yes, and they were safer from the world.
The final thought we come to is the book of life, brought in in connection with Sardis. They are on rather low ground. “He that overcomes, he shall be clothed in white garments”. One can see the great difference between that and partaking of the tree of life in the paradise of God. “And I will not blot his name out of the book of life”. It is a negative statement, but one that fits in with Sardis, with Protestantism, where there are persons who have a name to live and are not even [p. 307] converted. This is a word to real christians in such circumstances: their names are in the book of life.
CCE What do you think the book of life is?
JT I think it is to meet a certain state of soul.
Ques Does the book of life only contain the names of those who are really the Lord’s?
JT I think so. The Lord speaks to His people according to their state. In Protestantism this thought of final, eternal safety is a great matter. Real christians are there partaking of the “sacrament” with unreal christians, but the Lord gives them to understand that He respects those that are real. It is low ground and negative, but comforting in such circumstances.
FJF Is the book of life the final reference?
JT It is the last word. After all the other procedures, those who are not written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire. It is to ensure that no one who is the Lord’s goes into the lake of fire. Not that one would disparage any truth in Scripture, but the book of life generally contemplates a low state of things, where you have to cling to God’s faithfulness instead of being in the consciousness of His love. Peter speaks about making your calling and election sure. There it is a present thing in your soul at all times. But there are many who live in a poor state, just trusting the Lord as to their safety, and with scarcely any consciousness of His love and present care. It is pitiable to have to rely on that alone; still God provides for the assurance of His saints. It is said that God swore by Himself, in order that the saints might have strong consolation. But why should God have to swear to me? If I am conscious of His love I do not need this. But God condescends to come down to our low state so that we may be sure that we are safe.
FJF It is like descending from the banqueting hall to the archives!
JT Yes. In the account of the prodigal son, for instance, those partaking of the joy inside the house did [p. 308] not need to see if their names were in the records. They were feasting inside. Christianity is inside; but God graciously keeps a hall of records, so that those who are lean in soul may be certain of their ultimate salvation.
DRG Does this scripture infer that there will be names blotted out of the book of life?
JT It is a record of persons who are alive. It is not a mere book of profession. The negative promise here refers to those who are real. A careful examination of the references to the book of life in Scripture will show that it contains only the names of those who live eternally.
Ques Would it imply that God’s thought for all is life, but that there are those who are blotted out?
JT I do not think it means that any are blotted out. It is merely put in a negative way to assure the feeblest christian that he is safe.
CCE No christian will go into the second death, of course, but God just assures the feeblest that they will not.
JT It is the final appeal at the great white throne assize, Revelation 20: “if any one was not found written in the book of life he was cast into the lake of fire”. It is not, ‘if any one is blotted out’. Paul says of certain fellow labourers, “Whose names are in the book of life”: if all professors’ names were in it this would have but little value.