"I HAVE LOVED THEE"
“I HAVE LOVED THEE”
This scripture seems to me to answer strikingly to the word of encouragement given to the remnant in Zephaniah’s day (see Zephaniah 3:14-20).
At the end of the assembly’s history the Lord contemplates something that has true assembly character, though in remnant conditions, and He presents Himself to Philadelphia as the Holy and the True, and as the One “who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open”. It is an encouraging word at the present time when the enemy is working to restrict freedom for God’s people, to hinder them by pressure of various kinds, or even by fear. But the key, the power to control the whole position, is in the hand of Him who is in heaven. What a comfort it is that we have only to be faithful to what He has given us and we shall prove that He holds the key to the position! He will set before us an “opened door” to enter upon what is ours spiritually. Let us not miss such a wonderful privilege!
The apostle Paul was straitened in prison at Rome, it might seem very straitened for his ministry, but I believe the whole heavenly side of the ministry committed to him opened up to his soul in a much enlarged way. He was shut away from public service, but he retired to the region of the Spirit and got more than he ever had before — the precious truths unfolded in Colossians and Ephesians and Philippians. Outwardly restricted, he was inwardly enlarged; a door was opened for him into heavenly truth, and not for him only but for the whole assembly. I do not say that the historical church ever stood in the truth and power of it. It was not until the last hundred years that the prison ministry of Paul was brought home to the intelligence and affections of many saints. The Lord has given us a great opened door into the spiritual. He has given us also an opened door in public liberty; otherwise we might be put in prison for coming together as we do now. All this is the result of the key of David being in the hand of the glorified Man in heaven. In one sense He has purchased our liberty at the cost of the blood of His faithful martyrs in days that are not very far off in point of time [p. 233] Our great privilege now is to take up what was commended in Philadelphia, “Thou ... hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”, and again, “Thou hast kept the word of my patience”. Beloved brethren, these are the most infinitely precious things ever entrusted to saints — the word of Christ, His name, and the word of His patience. His word was the revelation of the Father; His name covers all that He was under the eye of the Father; and the word of His patience is expressive of the blessed character that He wears as waiting for His rights. It is not for us to look for rights in this scene until He has His.
But there is something even more sweetly touching. He says, “I have loved thee”. It answers to Zephaniah 3: 17: “He will rest in his love: he will exult over thee with singing”. He will let others know this too. “I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. The whole pride of the religious world is to be brought to the feet of Philadelphian saints; they are to know that Christ has loved those whom they have despised. And in addition to this He has pledged Himself to keep them out of the hour of trial to come on the whole habitable world. That is not the great tribulation of Matthew 24; it is a trial to come on the whole world, to try them that dwell on the earth. We can see the gathering clouds now: forces are gathering strength that, when let loose, will bring the most terrible trials to those that dwell on the earth. But He says, ‘I will keep thee out of it’. What a comfort that is!
Testings may come, and possibly of a more severe order than have yet been known, but they will be held definitely under the hand of the Lord. All will be under His limiting hand; He will not relax His hold upon things; He is supreme over all the power of evil. God knows exactly when to translate His beloved assembly; it will be before the hour of trial coming on the earth. We shall not be in the day of the Lord, in the suffering and testing of it, but we shall be with Him in the glory of it.
How precious to hear Him say, “I have loved thee”! There is something in Philadelphia that is lovable to the heart of Christ, answering to His affections. His love for her is the love of complacency, as I believe it is, too, in Zephaniah. He rests in His love, when He has secured in the remnant what answers to Himself in affection. There is a result of divine [p. 234] working which engages and captivates, if we may say so with reverence, the love of divine Persons. “A little power” is nothing to boast of, but it is sufficient to keep His word and not deny His name. There is power in the consciousness that He has loved us. In the strength of this we have power for all we need in a day of ruin like the present. May we have the comfort of it very definitely in our hearts!