LIFE IN THE FACE OF APOSTASY (1)

LIFE IN THE FACE OF APOSTASY (1)

Revelation 1: 17 - 20; Revelation 2: 7, 10; Revelation 3: 5

JT I should like to consider the subject of life in the book of Revelation.

In order that the subject may be clearly before us, I will remark that the first passage which we have read refers to Christ as the Living One; the second speaks of the tree of life in the paradise of God, and then of the crown of life; and the third refers to the book of life.

In view of the apostasy contemplated in Revelation, it is important to consider the subject of life. We shall see in the course of our readings that this subject is found throughout this book.

We begin by considering Christ as the Living One. If we are in the same position as John we shall be within the Lord’s reach. He 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”. John says: “He laid his right hand upon me”. It is according as the Lord lays His hand upon us, that we shall understand and profit in relation to this vast subject of life. John’s ministry must have taken its character very much from the fact that the Lord had laid His hand upon him. And as feeling that blessed hand, he was able to speak of the Lord as being “the first and the last, and the living one”.

Who is the Lord? That is a question that ought to be before each one of us. The antichrist is about to come, and the saints should be instructed as regards who Christ is Himself. In this book of Revelation, we have names, appellations which denote very clearly the deity of the Lord Jesus.

^[p. 2] We have first of all, in the first chapter, an expression of praise: “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen” (verses 5 and 6). Then we read in verse 8: “I am the Alpha, and the Omega, saith the Lord God, he who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”. He is there, without contradiction, “the Lord God”. Then, at the end of this first chapter, He is “the first and the last, and the living one”: He who “became dead” and who is “living to the ages of ages”.

Rem Only in so far as we are under the hand of Him who is living shall we enjoy life.

HD'AC If christianity is not a living order of things, it has no value.

JT In view of the tendency towards an antichristian movement, it may well be desired that the living character of christianity should appear.

ThD You have drawn attention to what is said in verse 8. The One who is named “the Lord God”, is that the Lord Jesus?

JT It is the Lord Jesus as God. In the last chapter He says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (verse 13), It is emphatic: “I am”. And there, as in this verse 8 of the first chapter, it relates to the same Person.

OT Job had some notion of the Living One: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth”, Job 19: 25.

JT Many of Job’s observations were confused, but others were very brilliant: “I know that my Redeemer liveth”. He desired a mediator (chapters 9: 33 and 16: 21). He said first: “There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both”, and later: “Oh that there were arbitration for a man with God”. This thought is developed in the book of Revelation where Christ is presented on the side of God first, as being Himself God, and then on the side of man. He can “lay his hand upon us both”, according to the language of Job, on God and on man. He is God, in all that the name of God means, and He is Man, in all that the name of Man means (sin apart).

PN In the last chapter, where He is called “the Alpha and the Omega”, Revelation 22:13 is He viewed as Man?

JT Yes. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet; He is the beginning of all that has been said and of all that can be said; the Omega is the end of all that can be said with regard to God, and that end is in Christ. There is nothing more to say, and it is in that sense that He is called “the Word”.

Rem It is only in the last chapter that He is called “the beginning and the end” Revelation 22:13. We have not that appellation in the first chapter.

JT That is to bring out, in the last chapter, the side of His manhood.

Rem In regard to His deity, there can be no question of either beginning or end.

JT When it says: “Then the end” (1 Corinthians 15: 24), that relates to His manhood, not that He ceases to be Man (for He remains a Man); but He is the One who has completed all the counsels of God.

Rem John says: “In the beginning was the Word” John 1:1.

Rem The first chapter of John draws our attention to His deity — “the Word was God”.

JT He of whom it says: “In the beginning was the Word” existed eternally, for “the Word was God”.

ThD The Person was there.

JT “The Word” is a title that relates to Him as Man, revealing the mind of God.

Rem It is the title under which He was known down here, He who has expressed the thoughts of God.

ThD It is not a title of absolute deity, is it? Before there was a created scene, He was there; but since there was then no creature, was there occasion for God to express ^[p. 4] Himself?

JT We should understand the deity of Christ in an absolute way, beyond and apart from creation. One Person of the Godhead could not be the Word in relation to the other Persons.

HD'DC That thought ought to be the solution to all our difficulties on this point.

JT This title “the Word” only has force from the moment that God addresses Himself to men. The Person whom we know as “the Word” was there; but the position is only occupied mediatorially.

Rem It is a question therefore of distinguishing between what the Person is and what He became.

Rem We have the tendency to think that what He became He always was.

JT There is a certain pagan idea which was formerly received with regard to the Word, that is, that He existed separately from the Godhead and was inferior to the Godhead. This thought was current at the beginning of christianity, when the apostles were no longer there. The theologians of that period used to say that it was in that sense that John used that expression in his gospel; now to speak thus is to dishonour the Lord Jesus. The book of the Revelation was probably written by John before his gospel, and in this book John affirms the absolute deity of the Lord Jesus; and in chapter 19, it says that His name is called “the Word of God”; that is His name as Man. John does not give any explanation as to that expression, thinking that it would be understood, and he uses it from the point of view of the Lord’s ministry down here. Luke uses the same expression in the first chapter of his gospel; he speaks of eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word.

HD'DC May the Lord be pleased to help us to accept that!

JT He will. He has done it already. And it is very important, in view of the coming of the antichrist which is marked by all kinds of falsehood, that the ^[p. 5] saints should receive an impression of the deity of the Lord Jesus. Before becoming Man, being in the form of God, He was in no way inferior to the other Persons of the Godhead.

Rem And having become Man, He has not ceased to be God in the equality in which He was eternally.

JT He never ceases to be God, “the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”. Hebrews 13:8 But in becoming Man, He has taken a place of relative inferiority. It is thus, as being in that place, that we bear Him say: “The Son can do nothing of himself save whatever he sees the Father doing: for whatever things he does, these things also the Son does in like manner”, John 5: 19.

Ques How are we to understand that He says in the same chapter: “The Son also quickens whom he will” John 5:21?

JT It is because the Father has given to Him to have life in Himself, which would have no application in absolute deity.

Rem “I and the Father are one” John 10:30, He said.

Rem The Lord retains His equality now that He has become Man.

Rem He said again: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” John 14:9.

JT His equality shines out constantly. And on the other hand we see His subjection. We have always before us that which is beyond us.

Ques The title “Father” is a title of revelation, as well as the tide “Son”, is it not?

JT It is love that is manifested in the relation of Father and Son.

ThD To go back to the title “the Word”, I suppose that only He who is God could be the Word.

JT The epistle to the Hebrews begins thus: “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the Person of the Son” Hebrews 1:1 - 2.

^[p. 6] The prophets were not the Word. It says: “At the end of these days has spoken to us in the Person of the Son” Hebrews 1:2. You have, in the Person of the Son, Him who is God Himself. It is a Person of the Godhead who speaks. The word “Son” indicates the dignity of the Person; while “the Word” is rather the inherent power to reveal Himself.

Rem He has the power to reveal Himself, as being the Word, but the epistle to the Hebrews brings out His dignity, “taking a place by so much better than the angels, as he inherits a name more excellent than they” Hebrews 1:4.

Rem The expression “Son” governs the first of Hebrews. It is of the Son that it says: “Thy throne, O God, is to the age of the age” Hebrews 1:8.

JT The knowledge of the Lord Jesus, from the point of view of the epistle to the Hebrews, would free us from thoughts that are current in the religious world. Theology as such does not give to the expressions used in their full spiritual meaning; it is only by the Spirit that we use the exact scriptural term.

Rem It is the Spirit alone who leads us into the truth, and into all the truth.

Rem To discern all these things, John had to turn back.

JT He says: “I turned back”. We must all turn back, that is to say take up a certain position which is needful to understand an aspect of the truth. He had heard the voice (”I heard behind me a great voice”); but he turned back to see, to understand, for in order to understand well one must see. Hearing and sight are two senses which are very important to the intelligence of the believer; then comes touch: the Lord lays His hand upon us.

Rem The right hand would be the hand of His power.

JT It is the touch of Him who died and rose again, the touch of the Living One.

Rem The Scriptures speak also of His left hand.

JT “His left hand would be under my head, and his right hand embrace me”, Song of Songs 8: 3. It is so important to be under the Lord’s hand! There is a certain number of brethren among us this morning who are specially engaged in the work of the Lord, who have the opportunity and privilege of speaking of the things of the Lord, or of writing His thoughts, and they should give their whole attention to this voice, “the voice which spoke with me”, so as only to give out right thoughts. And it says: “Write therefore what thou hast seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to be after these”. “The things that are” refer to the assembly in its public character described in chapters 2 and 3. “The things that are about to be after these” are stated from chapter 4 to the end of the book. We should give ourselves to these things with living power. The Lord would bring us back to what existed at the outset of christianity, to what was marked by life, in order that our ministry should be in the power of life. The creeds were written when the church had become worldly. The first great council was presided over by an unbaptised emperor, as head of the church (who was at the same time priest of the pagan world); those were not spiritually advantageous conditions for considering the deity of Christ.

Rem It is remarkable that at the beginning and the end of this book the Lord draws attention to Himself. He says: “I”.

JT In the second chapter, and also in the third, the Lord dictates letters, messages for the assemblies. The overcomer in the first three assemblies is in a different position from the overcomer in the last four. In the last four He speaks of the overcomer before speaking of the voice of the Spirit; that is to say that there must be overcomers in order that the voice of the Spirit might be understood. Do the brethren see that distinction? I believe it is important in the last four churches: in order that room may be given to ^[p. 8] the Holy Spirit to speak, there must be the overcomer. Up to Thyatira, the public body is viewed as allowing the Spirit to speak, but after that the voice of the Spirit is to the overcomer only. And if, at this moment, there were no overcomers in France, we could not have a meeting like this.

Rem The overcomer gives place to the Spirit.

Rem In order that others may be available also.

JT At the beginning, during some hundreds of years, the church listened to the voice of the Spirit, until Thyatira. But when we reach that epoch of Thyatira which permits the woman Jezebel, it is only the overcomer who lends his ear to the voice of the Spirit; and He desires that others also should hear it.

Rem You mean that it is not only a question of the overcomer hearing the voice of the Spirit, but of others also paying attention to it.

JT The Lord regards the assembly of Ephesus as being outwardly correct, the Spirit addressing Himself to the public body, and He says: “To him that overcomes, I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. We see there the position of Christ according to the divine thought: the tree of life is in the paradise of God. Such was the position of the tree of life at the beginning. Thus, the position of the tree of life relates to Christ dead, raised and exalted at the right hand of God.

ThD What is the difference between the position of the tree of life here and its position in chapter 22, where it is “in the midst of its street, and of the river, on this side and on that side”?

JT I suppose that in chapter 22 it is accessible; we can thus get the gain of it. It is a question of life in the millennial day, because it speaks of its leaves which are “for healing of the nations”.

Ques Why does it speak of twelve fruits?

JT It is to show that the tree produces much fruit.

^[p. 9] The agricultural year formerly included only seven months: from seed-time to harvest there was not a full year of twelve months. We see by that how fertile the tree was. If that existed in our meetings, how precious it would be! What variety there would be!

Rem In chapter 22, the question has to be raised for some, whether they have right to the tree of life.

JT In the garden of Eden the flame of the sword turned every way, “to guard the way to the tree of life” Genesis 3:24. Now, access is open; it is a question of having right to the tree of life; and having right to the tree of life one goes in by the gates into the city.

Rem There is another thought in this book: that of washing. “Blessed are they that wash their robes”. Revelation 22:12 In the first chapter it says that Christ has washed us in His blood.

Ques Is there a difference to bring out?

JT In the first chapter the action is in the past (”who ... has washed us”), likewise in chapter 7, “they ... have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb”. But in chapter 22 it is in the present: the action is continuous (”they that wash”).

ThD In the first chapter it is a question of the persons: “Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood”, while in the last chapter attention is drawn to the robes.

JT The robes are in view also in chapter 7. Chapters 1 and 7 mention the blood, while chapter 22 does not mention it; it is rather water that is in view. The water that flowed from the Lord’s side was for washing. He came by water and blood. Those who go in by the gates into the city are those who do the thing; they wash their robes.

Rem The beginning of chapter 22 speaks of the fruit and of the leaves of the tree of life; but in chapter 2 the portion is in the tree of ^[p. 10] life itself.

JT It is the Person Himself: Christ is our life, as Paul says: “When the Christ is manifested who is our life”, Colossians 3: 4.

Ques This washing is effected by means of the word, is it not?

JT John is the expression of it in Revelation.

CR You mean that he was set apart, separate.

Rem He is an overcomer in verse 10 of the first chapter.

JT Yes, verses 9 and 10 shew that he is an overcomer.

Rem And as an overcomer, he can say: “I John”.

JT It is a question there of a witness qualified to speak. The Lord makes use of the same form of expression: “I Jesus”.