THE GRAVITY OF THE MOMENT
[p. 282] THE GRAVITY OF THE MOMENT
I desire to draw attention, as the Lord may enable me, to the gravity of the present moment. I think that the value and importance of these addresses to the assemblies is in that they show us the gravity of the moment, the state of things as in the eye of the Lord. People might be gratified in a way with the state of things in the world; men might congratulate themselves on the outward spread of Christianity and the like; but that would be only according to man’s judgment, and man’s judgment in the things of God may, of course, be very much at fault. Therefore you can appreciate how important it is that the Lord has given us His mind in regard to things here, from the beginning to the end of the history of the church — of course, prophetically.
There is such a thing as prophetic communication in Scripture. You get a great deal of it in the Old Testament, and you get it also in the New, though not to the same extent. It is a principle which God avows; He makes no secret of this. He makes known the end from the beginning. He avowed the principle in connection with Israel, and it comes out too in reference to the church: that from the outset of a dispensation God makes known the end. I quite admit that it is made known in a symbolic and obscure way, and no doubt there is wisdom in that; but for every one who has ears to hear there is no difficulty in understanding what the course of things would be from the very start of the church till the end. God has been pleased to make this known to us in a remarkable way in these addresses to the seven churches.
[p. 283] I take up the address to Thyatira on account of there being one peculiar feature about it, and that is that, out of the seven addressed, this is the church in which you get for the last time the recognition of the assembly as a whole. In the three remaining addresses we get it looked at in a sense partially. Thyatira is the last church representing the whole as on the ground of responsibility. What becomes of it? “I will give unto every one of you according to your works”. Being connected with the church system was no longer a ground of security; judgment was to be according to their works. What a state the church must have lapsed into when the Lord had to present Himself in that way, for that is the way in which He presents Himself to the world.
I want to take up a few details connected with the address, and I think they have a very distinct voice to us, because they bring into view the coming of the Lord. It is the first address in which the word spoken to the overcomer brings the Lord’s coming into view. When the church has failed of the purpose for which God set it up on the earth, there remains nothing but for the Lord to come and to take up His authority in connection with the kingdom. Hence the promise to the overcomer is in connection with the kingdom: “To him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father”.
In taking up some of the details in the address, I will first say a word or two as to the aspect in which the Lord presents Himself. He presents Himself as the “Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet like fine brass”. Now, I think that is extremely significant. His eyes are searching, and His feet like fine brass are [p. 284] symbolic of judgment according to works. You say that is a strange idea as connected with the Son of God, and John had indeed very different thoughts concerning the Son of God. He tells us that “for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3: 8), and again that, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3: 16). He brings out the great thought of eternal life in the Son of God. Is it not strange then that we should have such different features presented in the Son of God, “His eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass”? The truth is that there are two distinct lines connected with the name of the Son of God. “The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live” (John 5: 25). That is one line. The other is that He is the One who exercises judgment and authority over the nations as in Psalm 2. In Him are set forth all the rights and authority of God. You get this last idea in connection with the coming of the Lord in Revelation 19. He is there presented as the Word of God, clothed with all the rights and authority of God. The two lines are very different, but both are true and each has its place. The first line is what marks the present moment: “He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life” (John 5: 24). But the time is at hand when Christ will come forth as the Word of God, followed by the armies of heaven, to use the sharp sword which proceeds out of His mouth, to exercise authority over the nations and to break them to pieces. I will not dwell on that now; I merely refer to it as showing that the way [p. 285] in which the Lord is introduced in the opening of the address to Thyatira is according to the second line of truth I have mentioned. He is brought before us as the One who has been rejected, according to Psalm 2. The kings of the earth have been in tumult and agitation against the Lord and against His Anointed. They would not have the throne of David and God’s kingdom. Then it is that the decree is declared: “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for, thy possession”. This is God’s answer to the rejection of His Anointed One.
Now if you do not see the aspect in which the Son of God is presented here, you cannot understand the peculiar sin of Jezebel, nor can you rightly understand the promise to the overcomer in Thyatira. The sin of Jezebel has, I have no doubt, to do with what we find in Psalm 2; and the promise to the overcomer has relation to the sin of Jezebel. The whole hangs together; and if you fail to see the connection with the Son of God and that which is given to Him of the Father, you can hardly understand either the gravity of the sin or the import of the promise.
It is important in a Christianised country like this to understand the character of Jezebel. I want you to apprehend what men have built up in this world, under the name of Christ, as it appears under the eye of God — to see the character of it, and what its end is to be. You must not confound Thyatira and Jezebel. Thyatira is the church; but Jezebel is not exactly the church but, rather, a system which has been permitted to grow up in the church: “Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols”. A woman in Scripture is very often employed as symbolic of a system, and I have no doubt that there is an identity between Jezebel here and great Babylon, the mother of harlots, in the end of the Book of Revelation; both the one and the other represent the great popish, Babylonish system.
I will point out what the character of this system is. Jezebel calls herself a prophetess: the system pretends to speak authoritatively from God, that is its avowed character. Now the church was set up here on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2: 20). There have been no apostles or prophets since; there could be none, because the church was built upon them. They completed the word of God, and there has been no subsequent communication from God in that sense; for when the foundation has been laid you do not want any further inspired communication from God. But here you find a system springing up in the church which avows to speak authoritatively from God, so that you have, as they say, to “hear the church”. That is the most wicked part of the whole system, denying practically that the mind of God communicated in His word has been completed. The apostle Paul speaks of its having been given to him to complete the word of God (Colossians 1: 25). And yet here is a system which avows to be prophetic, to speak authoritatively the mind of God. While she does that you have to look at her works: “To teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols”. There was a system seducing the servants of Christ into unholy commerce with the world, into the acknowledging the god and prince of this world; that was the character of the great popish system. It is a teaching system which, while professing to speak authoritatively from God, has the moral effect of [p. 287] leading the servants of Christ to lose all idea of separation, and to acknowledge the god and prince of this world.
There are two Christian sacraments — I use the word only for convenience for want of a better — two Christian ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s supper. Now I will tell you what they set forth morally, and I do not think anybody can refuse what I say. Baptism speaks of dissociation from the world, and the Lord’s supper of the fellowship of Christ’s death. The second really embraces and confirms the first. Baptism is the act of another — no one baptises himself: on the other hand, the Lord’s supper is your own act, and in it you endorse what was set forth in your baptism. Apart from my own act I was a subject of baptism, which signifies dissociation from the world (as Ananias said to Saul: “Arise and be baptised, and wash away thy sins”; which really meant dissociation from all that he had been identified with before); but in the Lord’s supper, by my own act, I am identified with the death of Christ. “In that he died, he died unto sin once”; and if you take the ground of association with Christ, you are “to reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6). It is most important to see the true character of the Christian ordinances and what they convey. They signify the moral dissociation of Christians from the present evil world. The children of Israel were baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and were thus dissociated from all that with which they had been connected before; so we having been baptised unto Christ in the water of baptism, have been dissociated from all that in which we were before. We have been made also to partake of spiritual food and spiritual drink, that is, fellowship of the body and blood of Christ, which means in the [p. 288] very strongest way dissociation from the great world system.
Now if we look at the great popish, Babylonish system, what use have they made of the sacraments? They have used the sacraments for the support of priest-craft, for no one can administer the sacraments except the clergy. For the laity everything is made to depend upon the administration of the sacraments, and as the sacraments can be administered only by the clergy, you see at once the great importance that is given to the priestly order.
Another feature in the system is that it is a great organisation in which man is glorified, not quite in his position in this world, but ecclesiastically. It is not Christ that is exalted in the system, but man. The head of the system is a great worldly dignitary. If you want to see its true character and description, you find this depicted in the latter part of the Book of Revelation. My only object in speaking of it now is to bring before you the character of the work that has been built up — this great Babylonish system, in which the sacraments have been used to confer honour and authority upon men, and to make of the priesthood something entirely contrary to the mind of Christ. When He spoke of what would take place during His absence, of the evil servant who would say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and would begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, I cannot doubt for a moment that the Lord had in view the wickedness of priest-craft. That is what has come to pass in perfection in the great system here called Jezebel. Her children, the children of the system, are killed with death — I have no doubt moral death, that is, they become apostate.
Now the Lord comes to this church as in judgment, and He says, “All the churches shall know that I [p. 289] am he which searcheth the reins and hearts” — He is the judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart — and further, “I will give unto every one of you according to your works”. It has come to pass in the professing church, that the Lord has to give to every one according to their works, not according to their profession. In the early days of the church, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the Lord’s people were all known as Christians, it was not then a time to judge every man according to his works; they were not judged at all in that sense, the Lord would not have presented Himself then in that light. But now He comes in with eyes like a flame of fire, searching the reins and the hearts, and giving to every one of them according to his works. You and I have to regard ourselves morally, in the light of the Son of God, and to see whether we are prepared to receive from Him according to our works. Will your works pass muster in the sight of the Son of God? Remember that the church has to do with One whose eyes are as a flame of fire and His feet like fine brass.
Before we come to the promise to the overcomer we have, “But unto you I say, to the rest” [or remnant], in Thyatira [there should be no ‘and’ here; it is the remnant only that is addressed], “as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden, but that which ye have already hold fast till I come”. It is interesting to see here the recognition of a remnant that have not the doctrine of Jezebel, and the Lord puts no great burden upon them; what He looks for is that what they have they should hold fast till He comes.
But now as to the overcomer. I have tried to bring before you something of the character of the works of Jezebel, the building up of that vast [p. 290] Babylonish system in which man is glorified. But the Lord speaks “to him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end”. What are the works of Christ? I think they are works in which the character of God is expressed, and these are what we are admonished to keep unto the end. I will try to give you an idea of the character of these works later on, but how are you going to arrive at them? I think the first great point is the kingdom, for having been brought into the kingdom, you have your responsibility there. The first point for the apprehension of a soul is God as a Saviour God. If you apprehend God in that light you must be saved. God has no other attitude towards men, as men, at this time than that of a Saviour God, and therefore to any one who apprehends God now there can be nothing but salvation. In the past God came out as a lawgiver and then there was law for men; by-and-by He will come out as a Judge and then there will be judgment for men; but now on the ground of the cross of Christ He presents Himself as a Saviour God, and any present apprehension of God must mean salvation for the person who so apprehends Him. If you have not salvation it proves that you do not know God, because if you knew Him it would be as a Saviour God, and that must mean salvation for you.
Now the first great object in salvation is to bring us under the sway of grace. Grace reigns now and it reigns through righteousness. Under the sway of grace you get the obligation to righteousness. When the kingdom is established in the future under the Lord Jesus Christ grace will reign for the blessing of man, and sin will be disallowed. Also the Psalm will be fulfilled which says, “There he commanded the blessing, even life for evermore (Psalm 133). We get the principle of this in Christianity, in that grace should reign through righteousness [p. 291] unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord”.
God’s first great object, as I have said, is to bring the soul of the believer under the moral sway of the grace that reigns through righteousness, that is through the practical setting aside of sin, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Supposing we have got thus far, that a soul has been brought under the sway of grace and has confessed Christ as Lord; what is the next step The next step is that the Lord directs the heart into the will of God, so that you may be here not for your own will, but for God’s, and I think the Lord enforces that by means of discipline. It is a great thing to take account of the discipline of the Lord, for it is a very real thing. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten”. There is a beautiful instance of this in the last chapter of John’s gospel. The Lord brought conviction to Peter of his sin, but besides bringing conviction to him He disciplined him; He told him what the manner of his death would be “Another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not”. That was the Lord’s discipline in regard to Peter, that Peter might be kept in the path of the Lord’s will down here, and not in that of his own will. And I believe the object of the Lord’s discipline in regard to every one of us is that we might be kept in the way of righteousness and might not wander away into the tortuous paths of self-will. This discipline is individual, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten”, or “convict and discipline”.
It is a great thing to be here for the will of God, and thus to keep the works of Christ. Now I will tell you what the works of Christ are: works of beneficence to men according to God. Works of philanthropy are works of beneficence to men according to man. The works of Christ are works which express the will and character of God, for [p. 292] God is the great Benefactor of man. But if man is benefited it is according to God. The great benefit is to give to man’s heart the light of what God is, that He Himself may be known in the heart of man. That is the work of God. It is very important to distinguish clearly and definitely between man’s works — works of philanthropy — and the works of Christ. When He was down here all His works were works of beneficence to man. But with what object? To make God known to the heart of man. Christ would not accept honour for Himself. When one comes to Him and says, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” the Lord answers, “Why callest thou me good? None is good save one, that is God”. He brought out the goodness of God, and all His works tended to that end, to make known the goodness of God to men. Are those the works that you and I are keeping unto the end?
It is very important to go back to the foundation, to see how far our hearts are really established in the kingdom, or rather how far it is established in us, so that we are under the sway of grace, of grace reigning through righteousness; how far we are found here zealous of good works. It is most important to be zealous of good works; but then be sure that they are good works, and do not let man be the judge of them, but Christ. Good works according to Christ are works of goodness and mercy and beneficence to man, but according to God, so that the light of God may be brought into men’s hearts. You may do this in preaching, visiting, in a thousand ways, if you are really set upon the light of God penetrating and pervading the hearts of men. I think that is the idea of Christ’s works in this passage.
While looking at the promise to the overcomer, let me say one word about the state of things contemplated [p. 293] here. Rome is the wickedest system that ever was seen upon the face of the earth. Could anything be so unfaithful as for Christ’s servants to be led into commerce with the world that rejected Christ? The church has assumed to rule the nations, the nations that rejected Christ who alone had authority or title to rule the nations (Psalm 2). Christ has not yet taken up His title to rule, yet Rome has assumed to rule the nations while Christ is absent. What can be more evil than that? We find that in a sense Christ mocks her. There is the idea in Scripture of God mocking (Proverbs 1: 26). The Lord mocks Rome by allowing her, since she would rule, to ride the beast, but it is only to her own destruction. She had taught the servants of Christ to commit fornication, to enter into unholy connection with the world, with the very world-power that rejected Christ, and she is herself rejected. Would you care to be distinguished in the world that rejected Christ? The world is in character Babylonish. There are two antagonistic cities, and they cannot co-exist — Jerusalem and Babylon. When Jerusalem is trodden down Babylon is in the ascendant; when Babylon is cast down Jerusalem is exalted.
Now let us see what the Lord says to the overcomer. We have to come back in principle to the truth of baptism and the Lord’s supper, separation from the world and identification with the death of Christ. “To him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end”. You are overcoming in the midst of departure from separation, and are keeping Christ’s works; and if you are thus separate from the great world system the Lord’s promise is “To him will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father”. I wonder if all have an [p. 294] eye to this: that we are going to reign with Christ? When the apostle Paul was sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, he was “to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me”. Now what is the inheritance? It is to reign with Christ. And the preparation for that is suffering. So long as Christ does not take up His rights your part and mine is to suffer. If you are going to inherit the kingdom your proper place here is to show it by suffering for the kingdom. If you want to avoid suffering, carry out the will of man; but if you seek to carry out the will of God you are likely to have to suffer. Then you are counted worthy of the kingdom for which you also suffer (2 Thessalonians 1: 5); you are being put through an education that will fit you for reigning with Christ. Our path is in dissociation from the world and the whole system of things down here which is dominated by sin, and therefore we must be prepared to suffer with Christ; but then we have before us this promise of reigning with Christ. When He rules over the nations and breaks them to shivers as the vessels of a potter, we shall be with Him. There is an allusion here, I take it, to Daniel’s prophecy which speaks of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which smote the great image of the vision upon its feet, so that it was broken to pieces and became as the chaff of the summer threshing floor. The great reconstituted Roman empire, the confederation bolstered up and supported by Satan cast out of heaven, is to be broken to pieces by Christ.
Now there is one point more “And I will give him the morning star;” the morning star refers, I think, to the present rather than the future. The morning star is, as I understand it, the harbinger [p. 295] of day. It is Christ in the heart of a Christian. And the effect of this is to animate the heart of the Christian with hope. It is not merely that your heart rests in faith, but it is animated by hope. I think there is a defect in us generally in the lack of hope. It is not faith that is lacking, for we have the light, but hope; and hope is a very important element in Christian experience. The morning star, Christ, in the heart animating it with hope, is the Lord’s promise to the overcomer. Do you believe this scripture to be the inspired word of God? Do you believe this to be the thought of Christ in regard to things down here at this moment? There is nothing more encouraging to me than that there is no moment in the history of the church in regard to which Christ has not His particular and distinct mind. He has His mind in regard to the state of things existing at this moment, and He has made it known to us. You have the works of Jezebel, and that wicked system — Rome — as plainly as possible under your eyes. On the other hand you have the blessed promise of Christ to the overcomer, to the one who goes against the stream, and keeps the works of Christ to the end.
It is a day when much is made of the works of men, but the point for Christians is to keep the works of Christ. Men carry out most wonderful achievements in the present day. I could tell you of great works which have been done in my time, and which have extorted universal admiration. But do you think they have helped man, or enabled him to meet the pressure of sickness and death and sorrow? No, it is the works of Christ that do that.
“To him that overcometh will I give authority over the nations”. You are being fitted by Christ here to bear company with Him when He shall rule. I would like to know how far every heart here is animated by the hope of this. By-and-by [p. 296] Christ will arise as the Sun of Righteousness upon the earth; but the Daystar has arisen in the heart of the Christian, and the heart of the Christian is full of hope in the thought of the coming of the Lord. In the meantime he is content to be nothing, just going on keeping the works of Christ unto the end, not seeking to do great or conspicuous things to make his mark in the world, but simply keeping the works of Christ. If you want to be conspicuous, wait for the time when Christ will exercise authority over the nations, and then you will reign with Him. It will not be fornication then, or the acknowledging the god of this world, because Satan will have been cast out and the whole world system broken to shivers.
May we have understanding to know God as a Saviour God, and, being under the sway of grace, able in the sense of that grace to carry out the demands of righteousness and then to be directed by the blessed Lord, and disciplined if need be by Him, so that we may be down here, not for the will of man, but for God’s will, “proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” — so affected by the compassions of God that we desire to be here through grace for His will. May God give us to know that blessed path in which the Shepherd leads. He leads in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.