Commentary
on Revelation
By E W Bullinger (1837-1913)
(chapter 14)
Chapter XIV. THE SEVEN ASSEMBLIES AS A WHOLE (i. 11).
We must here, at
the outset, remove the greatest source of all the misunderstandings which have
arisen with regard to these seven "churches."
The fact of
their being called "churches" has naturally led commentators and
students of this book to infer that it is the Church of God, or at any rate the
historic Christian Church, which is meant.
The difficulty
is thus arbitrarily created. The Bible student is at once confronted with an
overwhelming difficulty. He has read the Epistles which are addressed to the
churches by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul; and, on turning to the
Epistles in Rev. ii. and
iii., he is at once conscious of a striking change. He finds himself suddenly
removed from the ground of grace to the ground of works. He meets
with church-officers of whom he has never before heard; and with expressions
with which he is wholly unfamiliar: and he is bewildered.
Two courses are
open to him: either to try and force the words into a meaning to suit both,
thus lowering the standard of the Church of God, and the Christian's own
standing in Christ; or, to invent some purely imaginary interpretation and
baseless hypothesis by applying them to Christendom, and holding that instead
of seven assemblies we have seven stages of Church history: some going so far
as to give the very years which mark off these periods.
Those who feel
this to be a very difficult task, and lack the knowledge of history which is
absolutely essential to this system of interpretation, wonder why God gave to
Jesus Christ to show unto His servants what must come to pass hereafter, and
yet expected them to become deep students of history in order to understand
what He has revealed!
No wonder that
most Bible readers, after struggling for a time with this fantastic idea, give
it all up in despair; abandoning the reading of the book, and losing the
"blessing" which is pronounced upon its readers.
As a first step
toward removing this great evil, let us note at once that the word (...) (ecclesia),
rendered "church," is by no means limited to the restricted sense
which is thus forced upon it.
Ecclesia means simply an Assembly: any
assembly of people who are called out (for that is the etymological
meaning of the word) from other people.
Hence, it is
used of the whole nation of
The Greek word Ecclesia
occurs seventy-five times in the Septuagint Translation of the Old Testament,
and is used as the rendering of five different Hebrew words. As it is used to
represent one of these, seventy times, we need not concern ourselves with the
other four words.
This Hebrew word
is (...) (Cahal), from which we have our
English word call. It means to call together, to assemble, or gather
together, and is used of any assembly gathered together for any
purpose. This Hebrew word Cahal occurs 123
times, and is rendered: "congregation," 86 times;
"assembly," 17; "company," 17; and "multitude," 3
times: but is never rendered "church." Its first occurrence is
in Gen. xxviii. 3 - "that thou mayest be a multitude
(margin, assembly) of people," i.e., a called-out people.
That is what
In Gen. xlix. 6 we read - "O my soul, come not thou into their
secret (Council or Senate); Unto their assembly
(cahal), mine honour, be not thou united."
Here the word cahal is used, not of all Israel as called out from
the nations, but of the assembly of those called out of form the Tribal Assembly
(or Council) of the tribes of Simeon and Levi.
Then, it is used
of the worshippers, or those called out from
This is the
usage of the word in the Gospels, and even in the Acts of the Apostles before
the new use, which the Holy Spirit was going to make of the word, was revealed.
When Christ
said, "Upon this rock will I build my Ecclesia," He did not
use the word in the exclusive sense in which it was afterwards to be
used, but in the older and larger sense in which the word had been before used,
which would embrace the whole assembly of His People, while not
excluding the future application of the word to the Church or Body of
Christ when that secret should have been in due season revealed.
When the Spirit,
by Stephen, speaks of the Ecclesia in the wilderness (Acts vii. 38), he
means the congregation of pious worshippers of God at the Tabernacle.
When the Lord
added to the Ecclesia daily (Acts ii. 47), He added to the number of those
120, who first assembled themselves together in the upper room in
When Saul says
he persecuted the Ecclesia of God, he does not use the word in the
limited sense, which it subsequently acquired after he had received the special
revelation concerning it: but in the sense in which it had been used up to, and
in which it was used at, that time. It means merely that he persecuted the
People of God - the congregation of God. He is speaking of a past act in his
life which took place long before the revelation of the secret, and his words
must be interpreted accordingly. We must not read into any of these passages
that which was the subject of a subsequent revelation! which passages are perfectly clear without it. The word Ecclesia
in the Old Testament, the Gospels, and (for the most part) in the Acts, must be
taken in the sense of its earlier usage as meaning simply the congregation
or assembly of the Lord's people, and not in the sense which it
acquired, after the later and special signification had been given to it by the
Holy Spirit Himself.
As we have
already abundantly shewn, in the consideration of our
foregoing thirteen points, the Apocalypse is linked on to the Old Testament,
the Gospels, and the Acts (and not to the later Pauline Epistles), and we ought
to use the word Ecclesia in the sense in which it is there used; and
not, surely, in the newer and special sense which it acquired, and in which it
is used, in the Epistles.
In the Pauline
Epistles we read nothing about an "angel" as having to do with the
churches of God which Paul planted.
But we do meet
with the word Angel in connection with the Synagogue; (though not in the
Old Testament). There, there was an officer, who was called Sheliach
Tzibbur (...): Tzibbur
meaning Assembly; and Sheliach, the Angel
or Legate of the Assembly, and the Leader of Divine worship, from (...)
(shalach) to send.
The chief
officer was the Archisynagogos, or "Ruler
of the Synagogue;" and after him came the Sheliach
Tzibbur; or "Angel of the Assembly,"
who was the mouthpiece of the congregation. His duty it was to offer up public
prayer to God for the whole congregation. Hence his title;
because, as the messenger of the assembly, he spoke to God for them.*
* See
When we have
these facts to our hands, why arbitrarily invent the notion that
"angel" is equivalent to Bishop, when there is not a particle of
historical evidence for it?
Episcopoi, or Bishops, are clearly spoken of in other parts of the New
Testament (though not in the modern sense of the term. See Acts xx. 28; Phil. i. 1; 1 Tim. iii. 2; Tit. i. 7). But the office of
"Angel" in the
Add to this the
use of the word synagogue, which we have in Rev. ii.
9 and iii. 9. Here again translators mislead us. For,
while the Greek word occurs 57 times in the New Testament, and is translated synagogue
55 times, it is rendered "assembly" in Jas. ii. 2,
and "congregation" in Acts xiii. 43.
It should, of
course, be rendered synagogue in these two places, as well as in all the
others, as it is in the R.V. (though in Jas. ii. 2 it has assembly in
the margin). Had the A.V. so rendered it in Jas. ii. it would have marked and emphasised
the fact that James wrote "to the Twelve Tribes which are scattered
abroad," and would have shown how his epistle has a present point of
appeal to the scattered people,* as well as a direct future application to
them, like that of the seven epistles in Rev. ii. and
iii. In any case, the use of the word "synagogue" in Rev. ii. 9 and iii. 9
stamps these Epistles as Jewish, Satan's synagogue being put in opposition to
the other assemblies.
* As well as
saved a great deal of controversy as to the anointing with oil, etc., in Jas.
v. 14; and as to "faith" and "works."
When the word Ecclesia,
in the Apocalypse is rendered "Church," and the word
"Synagogue" in Rev. ii. 9
and iii. 9, is interpreted of the church, it is playing fast and loose
with the "words which the Holy Ghost speaketh,"
and which He has employed, not only for His revelation, but for our
instructions.
We hold that the
Apocalypse contains a record (by vision and prophecy) of the events which shall
happen "hereafter" in the Day of the Lord; that the whole book is
concerned with the Jew, the Gentile, and the Earth, but not with the Church of
God, or with Christendom; or with the latter only so far as the present
corruption of Christianity shall merge in the great apostasy, and form part of
it, after the Church, the Body of Christ, shall have been removed.
But there will
be a people for God on the earth during those eventful years. There will be the
remnant of believing Israelites; the 144,000 sealed ones; the great multitude;
and other bodies of faithful ones who are referred to all through the Book (see
chaps. vii., xi., and xii. 17). In
which latter passage we read of "the remnant of her (the woman's) seed,
which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ."
Will not these
need special instruction? Have these been forgotten by Him who sees the end
from the beginning? The Pauline Epistles will of course be of use as an
historical record of what will then be past, just as we have the record of
Israel's history in the Old Testament now.
Our answer to
these questions is that God has provided for their instruction, and warning,
and encouragement, in the second and third chapters of this book.
Right at the
beginning they are the first subjects of Divine remembrance, provision, and
care. Their needs must be first provided for, before anything else is recorded
of the things which John saw; and there they will find what is specially
written for their learning.
Even now, the
nucleus of this Remnant is being prepared. Hundreds of Jews are
believing in Christ as the Messiah, who know nothing of Him as the
Saviour. And even among the unbelievers in
Of course this
means that we are to consider the interpretation of Rev. ii. and iii. as
future, and belonging to the "hereafter." As to application,
we, of course, quite understand, and readily admit that these epistles have
been read by the saints of God all through the ages; and all who have thus read
them have received a blessing according to the promise. We may so read
them now, ourselves, and apply them, so far as we can do so consistently
with the teaching for this dispensation of grace, contained in the Pauline
Epistles. Applying these thus we leave the full and final interpretation
for those to whom it will specially belong hereafter.
Few are aware
that the evidence as to the existence of these assemblies as churches is very
scanty. Indeed, concerning some, not only is evidence wanting; but concerning
others it is quite opposed to their ever having existed at all.
Tertullian*
(about 145-200) says that leaders of certain sects, such as Cerdon
and Marcion, rejected the Apocalypse on the ground that it could not have been
written by John, inasmuch as (among other reasons) there was no Christian
Church in existence at Thyatira in the time of John.
*
Contr. Marcion i. 1.
Epiphanius
(who wrote about A.D. 367) deals with the Alogi, a
sect which disputed the genuineness of the Apocalypse, and on the same grounds.
He quotes their words: "moreover, some of the [the Alogi]
again seize on this passage in this same Apocalypse [Rev. ii.
18]. And they allege, by way of opposition, that it is
again said: 'write to the angel of the Church which is in Thyatira,' although
there was no Christian Church in Thyatira. How then could he write to a church
which was not in existence?" *
* (...) Epiphanius Adversus Haereses, Book II., Vol. I. Haeres
li. Sec. xxxiii. (Migne's Ed. Vol. xli., p. 948).
The answer of Epiphanius acknowledged the historical fact: but his answer
was that
We do not see
how he could have given a better answer.
In A.D. 363 was held
the Council of Laodicea. It was attended by thirty-two bishops of
How can we
account for this as a historical fact if these seven churches were all then
existent; and if these epistles were sent to them at the time,
The facts being
what they are, the enemies of the Bible draw from them an entirely false
conclusion. They use them against the authenticity and genuineness of the
Apocalypse, and against its claim to a place in the Canon of Scripture.
We, on the
contrary, strongly hold the canonicity and inspiration of the Apocalypse, but
we use the undoubted historical facts against a false system of interpretation
which is a very different thing.
An opponent of
the Bible, in a large and important work, uses the common system of a apocalyptic interpretation as an argument against all
Scripture. Speaking of Revelation, he says, "As all parties admit that it
contains the destiny of the church, each sect has applied it to itself,
frequently to the exclusion of all others."
All parties, we
are thankful to say, do not admit to the popular system of interpretation; and
our present object is to show that there is a "more excellent way,"
not of interpreting it, but of believing it; a way which, while it
honours it as the word of God, satisfactorily meets the erroneous conclusions
drawn from facts.
If these
"churches" are future assemblies of Jewish believers on the earth,
after the Church has been "caught up to meet the Lord," then all is
clear, consistent, and easy to be understood.
The real
difficulty is created by attempting to read the Church into the book where it
has no place.
As to the
"seven lamp-stands," ought not this expression at once to send our
thoughts back to the one golden lamp-stand of the Tabernacle (Exod. xxv. 31-39). ONE lamp-stand with
seven lamps, indicative of
We must further
note that John was not told to send seven separate letters to seven separate
assemblies, as is generally assumed and believed. Indeed the contrary is the
fact. The great Voice said, "What thou seest,
write in A BOOK and send IT unto the seven assemblies."
Over
three-quarters of a million copies of this Book of the Revelation have in the
last few years been placed in the hands of the Jews throughout the world. We
allude to the Salkinson-Ginsburg translation of the
New Testament in Hebrew, published by the Trinitarian Bible Society, and
distributed by the Mildmay Mission to the Jews, and
by other similar agencies throughout the world.
So that
"the book" has been and is being sent to those for whom it was
written, and at no distant day many assemblies of Jews will hear and read the
words of this prophecy, and a people be prepared who will keep "the words
of this prophecy," and receive in a special manner the blessing pronounced
in i. 3.
They will be able to understand what is now so
inexplicable to Gentile Christian readers. We find nothing in our Pauline
Church Epistles that fits into what is said to these assemblies. But those
readers will be at once reminded of the various stages of their own past
history, and they will find in almost every sentence some allusion to the
circumstances in which they will find themselves as described in this book.
We will show
this; first, from the references made to their past history; and when we come
to deal with these Epistles separately, we will, in some circumstance in the
Apocalypse itself, give a reference to nearly every sentence in these seven
Epistles.
It is a
remarkable fact that
Seven past
phases of
are referred to in these Epistles: and the literary
order in Revelation corresponds with, and answers to, the historical
order in the Old Testament.
1.
(Exodus).
In the Epistle
to the Assembly at
2.
(Numbers).
In
We are aware of
the "interpretation" proposed as to there having been ten
persecutions of "Christians" between A.D. 57 and 284. But unfortunately
for this theory, there is nothing said here as to any number of separate
persecutions: but only as to the duration of one! It is evident that no
system of interpretation which is based on such imaginations will be of any
service to us in our understanding of this book.
The year-day
system, as a principle of prophetic interpretation, is a human
invention; and as unnecessary as it is mischievous.
When God says a
"day" He means a day, and when He says a year He means a year. Even
in those very passages where He makes one day to stand for a year, the words
are used in each case in their literal sense and natural meaning.
When the spies
were gone 40 days, and Israel was made to wander 40 years ("a year for a
day"), "day" means day and "year" means year (Num.
xiv. 34). Because God thus orders it here, we have no authority to do this on
our own responsibility in every other place.
When Ezekiel was
told to lie on his left side 390 days, it does not mean that he was thus to lie
for 390 years! And when Jehovah says, "I have laid upon thee the years
of their iniquity according to the number of the days, 390 days"
(Ezek. iv. 4,5), it is clear that "days" means days, and
"years" means years.
And when Ezekiel
does the same with respect to Judah, 40 days, Jehovah says, "I have
appointed thee each day for a year" (Ezek. iv. 6, and see margin). We have
the same plain and literal statement of facts.
When human
interpreters take upon themselves to "appoint" the same in other
cases, whether 1260 days or "ten days," or any other number, they
incur a very grave responsibility. They do not adopt this "system" in
other prophecies, and dare not. For when, in Gen. vii.
4, God says, "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain on the earth
forty days and forty nights," it is said to have been so fulfilled. (vers. 10, 12).
When, in Gen. xl. 12, 13, it is said "the three branches are three
days," the fulfillment is given in verse 20: - "And it came to pass
on the third day," etc. (not year).
When God
prophesied of the flesh that He would give
So here, in Rev.
ii. 9, the expression "ten days" means ten
days: and many Jews in many cities already know what it is to suffer an
anti-Semite tribulation for days together. Why not here and under these
circumstances?
Haman had
one day given to him to "destroy the Jews"! Why not another
"Jews' enemy" be allowed ten days?
And what is this
or any such period to do with the
It is quite
probable that the time referred to here may that of Matt. xxiv. 9, 10, and Isa. lxvi.
5.
3. PERGAMOS - THE
WILDERNESS PERIOD.
(Numbers)
In Pergamos we
have the reference to Balaam, which will have its counterpart in a yet future
day.
Through
"the counsel of Balaam" (Num. xxxi. 16, etc.)
In the coming
future day Pergamos will be in a special manner the seat (or throne) of Satan
(ii. 13; and compare xiii. 2), and a form of idolatry more awful than that of
Baal-peor will be on the earth. Peter, writing to the
Dispersion, tells of this future time in 2 Peter ii.,
and in verse 15 he speaks specially of their "following in the way of
Balaam the son of Bosor."
Jude also
connects his description of a similar phase of idolatry with "the error of
Balaam" (verses 10-13).
It is clear,
therefore, that that special feature of idolatry connected with Balaam's
"counsel" is referred to in Rev. ii. 14, and
will be revived in the period described in the Apocalypse.
And,
as, upon this great evil the special judgment of the "sword" was sent
and executed (Num. xxxi. 1-15), so here. He who speaks to the same People of the same evil, speaks
also of the same judgment, "I will fight against them with the sword of my
mouth" (Rev. ii. 16), which threat will be
carried out in chap. xix. 21. This is why we have that special mention of the
"sharp sword," describing the speaker in ii. 12,
referring to the same feature of the Vision as seen in i.
16.
4. THYATIRA - THE
PERIOD OF
(1 and 2 Kings).
In the Epistle
to Thyatira we have the reference to another and more intensified form of
idolatry as developed and established in the days of Ahab, king of Israel;
another who, like Balaam, "made Israel to sin" (1 Kings xvi. 30).
Ahab was the
first king who officially introduced and organised he
most abominable form of heathen idolatry that the human mind ever conceived (1
Kings xvi. 33). See Revised Version, where the special
significance of this abomination is conveyed and contained in the word "Asherah." To particularise
on this form of idolatry would be only to defile the mind. The Lord Himself in
this Epistle (Rev. ii. 20-24) gives a clue to it. We
may, perhaps, add that what was introduced into Israel by Balaam (see Rev. ii.
14) became elevated into a national religious system under Ahab and Jezebel, as
it had long been recognised among the heathen nations
around.
What that
religious system of licentious idolatry was is well
known; but something may be gathered from a recently-discovered Papyrus,*
containing about a sixth of the Ascension of Isaiah, which had before
been known only in an Ethiopic Translation (except a mutilated Lectionary in
* Now in Lord
Amherst's collection, and published under the title of the Amherst Papyri
(Oxford Press).
The Papyrus goes
on to speak of Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, as
being "the teacher of the four hundred prophets of Baal;" and tells
how Isaiah "called Jerusalem Sodom, and the rulers of
Many proofs
abound to show that some similar system will yet be revived. None can be
imagined which would more quickly and universally take hold upon the world, and
unite all communities - and even the worst of characters, by making all, thus,
to become religious, and yet able to degrade and gratify the instincts
of human nature under the guise of religion.
Nor can we
conceive any form of corruption which would mark off the people of God more
effectually, and cause them to be separated from the abounding wickedness
around them.
This is the best
explanation which can be given of those solemn verses, Rev. ix.
20, 21: or rather, it is this passage which is itself the explanation of the
awful character of Antichrist's great universal system of Religion, which even
God's plagues, up to the point of time there referred to, will have failed to
remove, and which will call down the yet greater judgments of "the seven
vials."
These verses
(Rev. ix. 20, 21) are so weighty that we must them in
full.
"And the
rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the
works of their hands, that they should not worship devils (R.V. marg. demons), and idols of gold, and silver, and
brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their
fornication, nor of their thefts."
Our point,
however, must not be forgotten, which is, to draw attention to the fact, that
the mention of this evil in these Epistles corresponds with the historical
order in
5.
(1 and 2 Chronicles).
We have had four
references to
This is the
climax of
* Not that they
are "lost" in the proper sense of the word: but the proverbial
expression is significant.
Indeed, the
prophecy of Deut. xxix. 20 is fulfilled, not only as
to the individual and to the Tribe; but there is an application to the whole
nation. In Deut. xxix. 18, 20 (17, 19) there is the
threat to blot out the name of the "man" or "tribe" who
shall introduce idolatry. As a matter of fact, the Tribes of Dan and Ephraim
were the first to introduce it; and their names are blotted out from the
tribes of those who are to be sealed in Rev. vii.
It is in this
Epistle, next in order (to the assembly at Sardis) that we have the reference
to this silence, in the promise to the few names of such as have not defiled
their garments: "He that overcometh... I will not blot out his name out of
the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his
Angels" (Rev. iii. 5).
6. PHILADELPHIA -
THE PERIOD OF JUDAH'S KINGS.
(2 Chronicles).
We have had two
references to Israel's history, and now we are to have two references to
Judah's, and these refer, not any more to failure, sin and judgment; but to the
hope of restoration and blessing.
As Ahab, king of
Israel, was the first to introduce and establish the Asherah
worship, so the reference here, in the Epistle to the assembly of Philadelphia,
is to Hezekiah, king of Judah, who did much to destroy it and cast it out.
In
2 Chron. xxxi. 1, Hezekiah "brake in pieces the pillars (marg. obelisks), and hewed down the Asherim" (R.V.).
His two
predecessors, like himself, are described with special reference to their
connection with the Temple and with the Temple worship. Indeed, these three
kings of Judah are linked together as being three of the four reigns in which
Isaiah prophesied, namely, "Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah" (Isa. i. 2).
Jotham
"entered not into the temple of the Lord" (2 Chron. xxvii. 2).
Ahaz "shut
up the doors of the house of the Lord" (2 Chron.
xxviii. 24).
Hezekiah, at the
beginning of his reign, "in the first year, in the first month, opened
the doors of the house of the Lord" (2 Chron.
xxix. 3).
In
Isa. xxii. 22 there is a further reference to this point. Shebna, the Treasurer, had misused his trust for his own
glorification (see Isa. xxii. 15-19). On this account
he was ordered to be deposed, by Divine command, and "the key of the house
of David" was laid upon the shoulder of Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah (vers. 20-25): "And the key of the house of David will
I lay upon his shoulder; so the shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall
shut, and none shall open" (ver. 22).
Eliakim means God
will raise up: and there can be no doubt whatever
that we have here a prophetic reference to Christ, whom God would raise up. Indeed,
the whole passage (vers. 20-25) reads more like
prophecy than history; and points very distinctly forward to the Temple which
He Himself will build, and will fill with His glory.
It is remarkable
to notice how, in writing to this Assembly in Philadelphia (Rev. iii. 7), the Lord takes these very words and applies them to
Himself, saying: "These things saith he... that hath the key of David, he
that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth."
The
reference here to Isa. xxii. 22 is
unmistakable, and it is clear that we have a reference to another and
subsequent, but closely connected, event in the Old Testament history.
With this
reference we can understand the announcement to the Assembly of Philadelphia in
Rev. iii. 8: "Behold, I have set before thee an
open door, and no man can shut it."
And we can
understand also the reference to the Temple in the promise, "I will make
him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out" (Rev. iii. 12).
We are taken
right on, beyond Jerusalem and its Temple, to the days of final blessing, even
to the new Jerusalem and "the Temple of my God," when Isa . lxii. 2 shall be fulfilled:
"And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory:
and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall
name."
When this is
exactly what is promised in Rev. iii. 12, "I will
write upon him my new name," it is difficult to understand how such a
promise could ever have been diverted from Israel to the Church: taken away
from what it is directly associated with; and applied to that with which it has
no connection whatsoever.
7. LAODICEA - THE
PERIOD OF JUDAH'S REMOVAL.
(The Minor Prophets).
We reach, in
this last Epistle, the lowest point of Judah's degradation, in that long line
of departure from God, from the day Israel left her "first love,"
even the day of her espousals, when brought forth out of Egypt, down, down
through one vast scene of idolatry and judgment, until we find that nation
described in the Epistle to the Assembly in Laodicea in a condition of
spiritual destitution such as characterised the
People in the period of the Minor Prophets.
Indeed, so
complete is the correspondence, that to see it we must wait till we take the
Epistle sentence by sentence, and look at the passages from the Prophets, which
we shall there place side by side. We give one or two as examples:
|
Rev. iii. 17 - "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." |
Hos. ii. 5, 8, 9 - "For their mother hath played the
harlot;... for she said, I will go after my lovers
that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my
drink... For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will
I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the
season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her
nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her
lovers," etc. etc. |
The
whole of Hosea ii.-v., xii. 8, etc., must be read to see the pointed reference to this stage
of Israel's condition. Compare also Hag. i. 6; Jer.
xiii. 25, 26; v. 27; Zech. xi. 5, 13-18.
|
Rev. iii. 18 - "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in
the fire, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." |
Compare with this Isa. lv. 1, 2; Hos. ii. 3; Jer.
xiii. 25, 26; Isa. lix.
10; lxvi. 17; See also Mal. iii. 3 |
|
Rev. iii. 19 - "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be
zealous therefore, and repent." |
Isa. xliii. 4 - "Since thou was
precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable,
and I have loved thee." So Deut. vii. 8; Deut. viii. 5 - "Thou
shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee." Mal. iii. 7 - "Return unto Me
and I will return unto you" is another form of Rev. iii. 19. |
In verse 16, the
Lord speaks of spueing out the angel. This is the
very expression used prophetically in Lev. xviii. 25-28 of
All this shows
that the references in this last Epistle do not in any way fit the Church of
God, but agree in every particular with Israel's history, and are referred to
so as to enlighten them from their own past history, and thus warn them as to
future evils which will then surround them.
When the Church
has been removed, and
There will be,
as there was then, plenty of religion. Isa. i. 10-15 minutely describes the state of things, as they
were then and will be again in the future.
The truth of
"this prophecy will be amply evidenced - "Thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing."
The Pharisee's
prayer (Luke xviii. 11, 12) exemplifies it. The parables of the great supper,
the wedding garment, etc., describe it. The people were blind. The answer to
the question, "Are we also blind?" (John ix. 40, 41) proves it.
The call to the
wedding feast will be, as then, individual. Matthew was called, Zacchaeus was called, and many others; and those who heard
that call were unable to resist its commanding and enabling power.
It is the great
wedding feast of Rev. xix. 9 to
which the parables pointed.
These
"servants," to whom this epistle is addressed, will understand the
solemn warning, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." "To
the twelve tribes scattered abroad" it was announced "the judge standeth before the door" (Jas. v. 9).
The then
nearness of the Judge is the thought conveyed in this announcement. He will be
then near at hand, and ready to be revealed.
We are aware
that the warning in chap. iii. 20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock,"
has been universally interpreted of the nearness of the Saviour in grace
to those living in this present Church Dispensation, and this has been fostered
by painters who have done so much to present perversions of Scripture to the
eye.
It is a perversion
which just suits the old nature, for it puts man in the place of Almighty God,
and turns the Lord Jesus into a helpless suppliant. All this is foreign to the
doctrines of grace, and makes them all of none effect.
Moreover, this
popular interpretation is out of keeping with the context. For, all through
these seven Epistles the Lord is in the character of a Judge, rewarding His
"servants" according to their "works." To those looking for
Him and ready to receive Him, He appears according to His promise in Luke xii.
35-40: "let your loins be girded about and your lights burning: and ye
yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the
wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh,
they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord,
when he cometh, shall find watching: Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird
himself and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve
them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and
find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good-man
of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched,
and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready
also: for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not." Here, we
have the "Son of Man;" the "servants;" the illustration of
the "thief;" the "watching;" the "knocking;" the
"opening," and the "sitting down to meat." Surely we have
in Rev. iii. 20, the fulfilment of this prophecy.
How simple it
all is when we look at this Epistle as relating to backsliding
We have seen
enough in the consideration of this fourteenth point to furnish us with further
evidence that the Church is not the subject of the Apocalypse.
The same is seen
when we look at our last point, viz., the order of the promises
contained in these Epistles.
(XV).
THE PROMISES TO THE SEVEN ASSEMBLIES.
As we have seen
that the references to the Old Testament in the seven Epistles correspond with
the historical order of the events, so it is with respect to the promises
contained in these Epistles. The literary order follows the historical order.
They are written
to a People supposed to be well-versed in the history of the Old Testament, and well-acquainted with all that had happened to
their fathers and had been written for their admonition. Instructed in the past
history of their nation, they will readily understand the relation between the testings and judgments in the past with which they are
familiar, and those similar circumstances in which they will find themselves in
a yet future day.
While the
historical events connected with the rebukes are carried down from Exodus to
the period of the Minor Prophets, the promises cover a different period;
commencing with the period of
The subjects of
the rebukes follow the order of the departure of the People from Jehovah. Their
decline and apostasy is traced out in the historical references contained in
these Epistles.
All blessing
depended on the national adherence of the chosen nation to the conditions of
the Covenant made with them from the days of the Exodus to the days of the
Minor Prophets.
We see them, in
the history, coming down, down, down; till we find them stripped of all
blessing (nationally), poor, miserable and blind. All
that seems to be hoped for, or looked for, among the People is a few
individuals who will speak to one another and think upon the Coming One (Mal.
iii. 16). Later, we see these in the persons of Zacharias
and Elisabeth (Luke i. 5,6),
Simeon (Luke ii. 25), and Anna (Luke ii. 36-38), and others, "who were
waiting for the consolation of
We have seen
that this same historical order is followed in these seven Epistles to the
Assemblies.
But when we turn
to the PROMISES, then all is different. They proceed in the opposite direction.
The order, instead of descending - from
This will be
readily seen as we trace it out in the promises made in Rev. ii.
and iii.
But first we must
note that they are all intensely individual. There is no corporate existence recognised as such. Each one of the seven promises
commences with the same words, "to him that overcometh." This answers
to the language of the Four Gospels, and the Epistle to the Hebrews: e.g.,
"He that endureth to the end," and resists
all the flood of evil by which he will be surrounded, he shall be saved.
Such phraseology
is foreign to the language of the later Pauline Church Epistles.
The whole period
covered by "the day of the Lord" is called the final meeting
of the ages, or the (...) (sunteleia); but,
the crisis in which it culminates is called the (...) (telos), the end of the age.
Both are
rendered "end" in the New Testament, but the use of these two words
must be carefully distinguished.
Sunteleia denotes a finishing or ending together, or in
conjunction with other things. Consummation is perhaps the best English
rendering.* It implies that several things meet
together, and reach their end during the same period; whereas telos is the point of time at the end of that
period.** For example, in Matt. xxiv. 3 the disciples ask, "What
shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the sunteleia
of the age."
* The word
occurs only in Matt. xiii. 39, 40, 49; xxxiv. 3; xxviii. 20, which shows that this verse
refers to a yet future day. And in Heb. ix. 26, which refers to the sunteleia
of the former dispensation. It is the Septuagint rendering of (...) (keytz) in Dan. xii. 4, 13.
** Telos is significant in this connection, in Matt. x.
22 and Rev. ii. 26.
In His answer to
this question the Lord speaks of the whole period, and covers the whole of the sunteleia. But three times He mentions the telos (1) to say that "the telos
is not yet" (verse 6); (2) to give a promise to him "that shall
endure unto the telos" (verse 13); (3) to
mark the crisis in verse 14, which comes immediately after the close of the
preaching of "the gospel of the kingdom." "Then shall the telos come." The sign of the telos is the setting up of "the abomination of
desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet." Thus the telos,
and he who endures to this, the same shall be saved, and will be among the overcomers specially referred to in these seven
Epistles; to whom these promises are made, and to whom they peculiarly refer.
They are seven
in number, as we know: but we have to note that the seven here, as
elsewhere, is divided into three and four.
Each Epistle
ends with two things: (1) an injunction to "hear;" (2) a promise
to him that "overcometh." In the first three Epistles the Promise
comes after the Injunction. In the last four it comes before it.
This is because
the first three are connected, by reference, to what is written of the Divine
provisions in the books of Genesis and Exodus (the Garden and the Wilderness);
while the latter four are connected with the Land and the thrones
of David and Solomon: the number three marking Heavenly or Divine
perfection; and the number four having to do with the earth.
Let us look at
these Promises in order.
refers to Genesis ii., the promise being,
"I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God" (Rev. ii. 7).
God begins from
Himself. The Apocalypse related not only to
The way to that
tree was lost: but was "kept" (or preserved) by the cherubim (Gen. iii. 24). These cherubim next appear in connection with the
way to the Living One, in the Tabernacle, and are thus linked on to
Only in
Sovereignty and
government on the earth is the great subject of the Apocalypse; therefore the
promise goes back to the point where sovereignty was ignored and government was
overthrown. This becomes the starting-point. That is why the cherubim reappear
in the Apocalypse, intimately associated with this work of restoration of
Divine Government on the earth. their song is of
"creation" (Rev. iv. 11). Their likeness is to creation. Their song
is of the redemption of
refers to Genesis iii., the promise being
"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of
life." "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death" (ii. 10, 11). The reference is to Genesis iii., where death first enters. But the promise goes beyond
this; for it relates not merely to the death which came in with sin, but to the
"second death," which is revealed in Rev. xx.
14; xxi. 8.
refers to Exodus. The promise is, "I will
give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the
stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth
it" (ii. 17).
It is in this
third Epistle, which refers to the wilderness period and Balaam's counsel, that
we have a special reference to the manna, the wilderness sustenance, of which
Exodus contains the record. "Bread from Heaven" and "Angels' food"
(Ps. lxxviii. 24,25) are set
over against the lusts of the flesh and spiritual idolatry. The manna was to be
"hidden" in the Ark of the Covenant, "that they may see the
bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from
the
God supported
His People in the wilderness, where they could obtain no food: Why not here?
The false prophets will eat to the full at the table of another Jezebel: Why
should not God "furnish a table" (Psa. lxxviii. 19) for His own in that coming day, in that
wilderness whither they will flee (Rev. xii. 14)? The
one was literal: why not the other? Why go out of our way to seek for a strange
interpretation alien to the subject, when we have one ready to hand in the Old
Testament Scriptures which are being referred to? That manna was to be
"hidden," and "kept," to remind them that God can still,
and will again "furnish a table in the wilderness," that they may
again be "nourished for a time, and times, and half a time" (Rev.
xii. 14).
There is a
further promise as to the "white stone" and the "new name."
Again we ask, Why go to our own imaginations, or to Pagan customs, for
interpretations, when we have in this same book of Exodus* the account of the
stones on which the names of the Tribes were engraven:
Two on the High Priest's shoulder, with six names on each (collective); and
twelve on the breastplate, with one name on each (individual). The individual names being placed "upon his heart" (the
place of love), and the collective names "upon his shoulders" (the
place of strength) (Exod. xxviii. 8-30).
* In the Hebrew
Canon Exodus is called the Book of "the Names." See Names and
Order of the Books of the Old Testament, by Dr. Bullinger.
Besides
these stones there were the stones of the "Urim
and Thummin," of which little or nothing is
known. These may have
"white" for aught we know; but we do know that they were associated
with a hearing and answering God dwelling in the midst of His People.
Here, amid their
scenes of trial and tribulation, when God's people will find themselves in
another wilderness, they are reminded, by this Exodus-promise, of Jehovah's
presence with them; and of the blessed fact that He has their names in
remembrance; that His love is everlasting; that His strength is almighty, and
able to nourish them when their enemies might prevail and human resources fail.
refers to the books of Numbers and Samuel. The
promise is, "to him will 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. And I will give him the morning
star" (Rev. ii. 26-28).
Here again the
literary order in the Apocalypse goes forward with the historical order: for it
is in the book of Numbers that we have the basis of this promise given to the
same People, who were the subjects of it there. For "there shall come a
Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall mite the
corners (marg. princes) of Moab, and destroy
all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a
possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his
enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall
come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city" (Numbers xxiv. 17-19).
This promise and
prophecy had a first foreshadowing fulfilment in
David; showing what was in store for David's Son and David's Lord: even for Him
who was the "root and the offspring of David."
Luke i. 31-33 tells of His conquest,
and of His reign on David's throne.
David, we have
said, foreshadowed it: for he could say in the words of his song, "thou
hast girded me with strength to battle; them that rose up against me hast thou
subdued under me. Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I
might destroy them that hate me.... Then did I beat them as small as the dust
of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street" (2 Sam. xxii. 40,41,43).
This was the
theme of David's song "in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of
the hand of all his enemies."
And this heralds
the yet more glorious song in honour of David's Lord when the kingdoms of the
world shall have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall
reign for ever and ever (Rev. xi. 15).
The promise is
given in this fourth Epistle, because the prophecy of Numbers xxiv. 17-19 has
never yet been really fulfilled. "The day-spring (the morning star) did
visit His people" (Luke i. 78); but He was
rejected; and therefore the fulfilment remains in
abeyance, as well as that of Luke i. 31-33.
In Rev. ii. 26-28 the time is at hand for the fulfilment
of it. Hence the promise is repeated; and in chap. xx. 4 we see it accomplished;
for the "morning star" shall then have risen (Rev. xxii.
16), and the prophecy of Psalm ii. shall be fulfilled.
refers again to the times of David — not the
beginning of his reign, but to the end of it.
It is a double promise,
negative and positive, and both have to do with the names of individuals.
"I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life; but I will confess his name before
my Father, and before his angels" (iii. 5).
The reference is
to "the last words of David" in 2 Sam. xxiii. They follow "the
words of this song" in the previous chapter.
These "last
words of David" were uttered as he was about to give up the throne and the
kingdom to Solomon; when the conflict was to end, and issue in dominion, and in
a glorious reign of peace: foreshadowing the time when this promise of Rev. iii. 5 is about to be fulfilled, and the Apocalyptic
judgments are about to issue in millennial glories.
"I will not
blot out his name."
"I will
confess his name."
So runs the double
promise, and it is exactly what we see in the history which is thus referred
to.
David is
confessing the names of his overcomers, and the
confessing of them begins, "These be the names of
the mighty men whom David had" (2 Sam.xxiii. 8).
They had "gathered
themselves to him" in the day of his rejection. For, though he had been
anointed as king, he was not as yet sitting on his own throne, but was in the
cave Adullam, or the place of testimony.*
* Adullam means their testimony.
They had gone to
him in their distress and debt and bitterness of soul (I Sam. xxii. 1,2), and David "became a captain over them." They
had followed him through all his conflicts: and now, on the eve of the era of
glory and peace, their names are confessed before all.
Their deeds are
announced, and their exploits are recorded. But there are some who are
"blotted out."
Joab is
not there, though "Abishai, the brother of Joab," is there (2 Sam. xxiii. 18); "Asahel, the brother of Joab,"
is there (verse 24); "Nahari...armour-bearer to Joab," is
there (verse 37); but not Joab himself. He was
a "mighty man." He had been the commander-in-chief of David's forces,
a valiant soldier, a great statesman and wise counsellor;
but, while he was all this and more, he was not an overcomer,
for his heart was not right with David. He remained loyal when Absalom
rebelled; but he took part in the treason of Adonijah.
Ahithophel
is not there; though we read of "Eliam the son
of Ahithophel" (verse 34). He was David's
greatest counsellor; so wise, that when he spoke
"it was as if a man had enquired at the oracle (or word) of God" (2
Sam. xvi. 23). But he was not an overcomer,
and he is not "confessed" even before men. He took sides with Absalom
in his rebellion; and he is blotted out from this list of names.
Abiathar,
too, is blotted out, for not even is his name here. He was David's beloved
friend (see 1 Sam. xxii. 20-23), but he was not an overcomer.
He remained loyal in the treason of Absalom, but joined in that of Adonijah.
The other names
are duly confessed.
The scene is
unspeakably solemn; and has, by application, a warning voice for all. But, by
interpretation, it comes with special force in this promise to the Assembly at
Sardis, and refers to the fulfilment of Matt. x. 32,
33 and Luke xii. 8, 9. "Whosoever therefore shall
confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in
heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
Father which is in heaven." Thus this promise refers not only to that
solemn past scene in Israel's history, but is shown to be closely connected
with the Four Gospels, and points on to the scenes of final judgment and glory
in connection with David's Lord, and "a greater than Solomon."
refers to Solomon, as does the seventh
(Laodicea). In the former the reference is to the "Temple" and to the
"City;" while, in the latter, it is to the "Throne."
The promise runs
(iii. 12), "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my
God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God,
and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down
out of heaven from my God: and my new name."
The reference
here to Solomon is unmistakable.
He it was who built
the temple, and put in its porch those mysterious pillars "Jachin and Boaz" (1 Kings vii.
13-22; 2 Chron. iii. 17).
"And he set
up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the fight pillar, and
called the name thereof Jachin (i.e., He shall
establish): and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz
(i.e., In it is strength)."
Strength and
permanence were thus announced to all who entered that wondrous Temple.
The Temple of
God is brought in this Epistle into contrast with the Synagogue of Satan, and
those were of the latter who "say they are Jews and are not." That
synagogue has neither strength nor permanence. But the overcomers
are endued with Divine strength, and shall have eternal inheritance, for they
"shall go no more out."
Moreover, the
promise refers to the name of the overcomer being
written in "the city of my God."
There can be
only one interpretation to this promise. Anyone acquainted with Old Testament
phraseology will at once go back in memory to such Psalms as xlviii.,
cxxii., and lxxxvii. In
this latter we read:
"Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be
praised:
In the City of our God -- His holy mount.
Beautiful for situation, The joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion,
The sides of the north, the city of the great king.
As we have heard, so have we seen;
In the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God: God will establish it for ever" (Psa. xlviii. 1, 2, 8)
"His foundation is in the holy
mountains.
Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of thee,
O city of God. Selah.
I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that
know me:
Behold Philistia, and Tyre,
with Ethiopia,
This one was born there.
And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her.
And He, the Most High, shall establish her.
Jehovah shall count, when he writeth up the peoples
'This man was born there.' Selah.
As well the singers, as the players on instruments [shall say]
'All my springs are in thee'" (Psa. lxxxvii.).
True, the
chapter-headings of the A.V. may call this "the nature and glory of the
Church." But we shall prefer to believe God in so plain and literal a
description of "the city of God:" and those who are the subjects of
the promise will have a blessed knowledge of what it will mean to be written
"in the city of my God."
Ezekiel (chap.
xiii.) also addresses Israel; but as he speaks not of promises and blessings,
it is not interpreted of the Church, but it is left for the persons mentioned;
though they are not more clearly defined here than in the above Psalm. In verse
9 we read of those who "shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither
shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they
enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am Adonai
Jehovah" (Ezek. xiii. 9).
The promise in
Rev. iii. 12 refers to the
New Jerusalem (chap. xxi. and xxii.). If the city of David and Solomon was such
that "glorious things" were spoken of it as "the city of God,"
what will be the glories of that city which "cometh down out of heaven
from my God"? And what will be the blessing of Zion and Jerusalem when, as
written in Isa. lxii. 1,
"the righteousness thereof shall go forth as brightness and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth"? Then it is that
the promise is given, "Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth
of the Lord shall name." (Compare Isa.
lx 14). In Isa. lxii. 4 and 12 we have further instruction as to
this "new name" referred to in Rev. iii. 12.
refers to the throne, of which Solomon's was in
every respect the ideal type.
This, the
highest promise, is given to the overcomers in the
lowest condition of Israel's degradation, which is described as in danger of being
"spued out."
What that was we
have already seen (page 89), and now we have the chiefest
of all the promises. The overcomers in that last
terrible condition of things are the ones who most need the greatest of Divine
help and encouragement. Hence the highest promise is given.
"To him
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (Rev. iii. 21).
To Solomon is
the great promise of the throne vouchsafed through David. "When thy days
be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed
after thee... and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house for
my name, and I will stablish the throne of his
kingdom for ever" ( 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13).
The defection of
those who should follow Solomon on that throne was foreknown and provided for. The whole of Psalm lxxxix. should be read in this connection, as explaining how and why
the throne should come to be in abeyance. After referring to this in verse 14,
the promise goes on: Yet
"My mercy shall not depart away from
him...
"And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before
thee:
"Thy throne shall be established for ever" (2 Sam. vii. 15, 16).
How and when
this promise will be fulfilled, after the period of chastening referred to in
verse 14 (of 2 Sam. vii.) shall have ended, is described in Dan. vii. There we
have fully set forth how "the Son of Man" shall receive the kingdom
and the throne, and how "the saints of the Most High" shall share
that throne with Him, as promised in this Epistle.
The title used
in Dan. vii., "The Most High" is very
significant, and shows that the whole scene relates to the earth. Whenever this
title is used this is its meaning and teaching. Its first occurrence, in Gen. xiv. 18-24 marks it as belonging to the "possessor of
heaven and earth." It was as "the Most High" that He divided to
the nations "their inheritance" in the earth (Deut. xxxii. 8), which,
as its "possessor," He alone had the right or the power to do. In Psa. lxxxiii.
18 He is called "the Most High over all the earth." And so it is in
all the thirty-six occurrences of the title in the Old Testament.
The expression,
"the saints of the Most High," tells us that the people referred to
are an earthly people, even those whose promise is an earthly throne and
an earthly kingdom. Not the church of God, therefore, whose
calling, standing, hope and destiny are heavenly.
Four times is
the expression used in Dan. vii. In verse 18 "the
saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for
ever, even for ever and ever."
In verses 21, 22
the fourth Beast "made war with the saints and prevailed against them (as
related in Rev. xiii. 7); until the
Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High;
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom."
In verse 25 the
Beast "shall speak great words against the Most High," &c. (as
related also in 2 Thess. ii. 4, and Rev. xiii. 5, 6).
In verse 27 we
read that "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the
Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall
serve and obey him."
These are the
"elect," who shall be "gathered together from the four winds,
from one end of the heaven to the other," when the "Son of Man"
shall come down on the earth (Matt. xxiv. 30, 31). Then shall His
"call" go forth, "Gather my saints together unto me." This
is when He will call "to the earth, that He may judge His People" (Psa. l. 4, 5; read the whole Psalm).
And
when, later, in Matt. xxv. 31, we read, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory,
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory": then there will be a different gathering, not of His
"elect" (see Matt. xxiv. 31), but "before him shall be gathered
all nations," * according to Joel iii. 1, 2 and 11, 12.
* See the
structure of the whole of this great prophecy of Matt. xxiv. and
xxv. in Things to Come, vol. vi., p. 103.
This throne of
the special judgment of the "nations" leads up to and ends in the
permanent throne of Divine government, according to Jer. iii. 17.
Then will this
promise be fulfilled to the overcomer: "I will
grant to sit with Me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne (Rev. iii. 21).
This promise,
therefore, like all the others is not given to the
Thus we have
traced the upward path -- the ascending scale of the seven promises of these
seven Epistles, and seen how are they to be interpreted of
This concludes
our fifteen preliminary points; and we submit that their cumulative
evidence establishes our fundamental position that, the "