A First Century Message to Twentieth Century Christians

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY In order to a proper understanding of the purpose of the letters to the churches of Asia, it is necessary that some words should be spoken concerning the book in which they are to be found. This book contains the last messages of Christ to men. In some important ways, it differs from any other book in the Divine Library. John did not receive it by the inspiration of the Spirit in the ordinary sense of that expression, but directly from Jesus Christ, as He appeared to him while in exile in Patmos. The usual title, The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, is misleading, as the opening words of the book will show, which read, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His servants. Perhaps no book has been more neglected than this Revelation of Jesus Christ, and yet it the only one that opens with a distinct and threefold blessing pronounced, a blessing first, upon those who read, secondly, upon those who hear, thirdly, upon those who keep these things that are written therein. There must be some deep significance in this introductory pronouncement, and because of the difficulty of interpretation, the Church has no right to neglect her Master's last message. Yet while it is true that no book has been so sadly neglected, it is also true that around no book has there waged more persistent controversy. So keen has that controversy been that we find Christian people divided into distinct schools of thought about it, and we hear of preterist, presentist, futurist, and spiritual interpretations. These differences have no detailed place in our present discussion. Our business lies only with the messages to the churches. That we may see their place, some word must be said about the general character of the book. The book of Revelation is not primarily a book of Church truth. It is a book of judgment, in the broadest sense of that word. Judgment, that is, as the method and government of God. It reveals the consummation of the world's history, and gives a panorama of God's final dealings with the earth. We find ourselves largely back in the realm of Old Testament truth. Jehovah is introduced in language in keeping with the thoughts suggested by that name to ancient Hebrew people. Him which is, and which was, and which is to come. The Holy Spirit is spoken of, not as the unified personality that men came to know through the work of Christ, and who appears in the epistles of the New Testament. He is seen, rather, as seven spirits, that is, in the perfection of activity, and these spirits, moreover, are before the throne. Jesus is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. While the church, loved and loosed from sin, is a kingdom of priests, perfected in their number, and save in the early chapters, occupying a place in glory. Thus God is revealed as supreme in the government of the universe, the spirit as the light and activity of that government, and Jesus as the faithful witness, and as ruling the kings of the earth. The outlook of Revelation is larger than the church of Christ. It deals, not with the relation of God as father to the company of saved in the church, but to his larger relation as king and governor of the whole earth. There has been a great deal of cloudy thinking and teaching on these subjects. Many seem to imagine that the church and the kingdom of God are one and the same thing. The fact is that the kingdom of God is infinitely larger than the church, and includes that whole realm over which God is king, and in which that kingship will finally be established. Today the church recognizes and submits to that kingship. The time will come when all nations shall recognize and submit. The church is an instrument to that end. And yet she is a complete entity within herself, having her specific vocation in future ages. The whole book of Revelation reveals the final stages in the work of God with humanity. No one has perfectly understood all its teaching. Its great principles are evident. It shows the final overthrow of evil and the setting up of the eternal kingdom of God. It moreover teaches us that that overthrow and that setting up will be realized through Jesus, the anointed king. In all probability, the key to the division of the book is to be found in the words, Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter. This first divides the book and marks the subjects upon which John was commissioned by Jesus to write. 1. The things which thou sawest. 2. The things which are. 3. The things which shall come to pass after these. The first of these undoubtedly has reference to the vision of glory that John looked upon, the second to the condition of things existent as described in the seven letters to the churches, and the things after these are the final things, the chronicle of which commences in chapter 4 verse 1. Let it be noted that in chapter 1 verse 19 the word hereafter is a translation of the two words peroravra, and in chapter 4 verse 1 after these things is a translation of the same two words. Thus evidently the third division begins at the fourth chapter and from there to the end we have unfulfilled prophecy. With this section of the book we have now nothing to do. Our particular subject is the second division, the things which are. Of this there have been three interpretations. First, that the epistles were actually written to seven churches at the time existing in Asia. Second, that the epistles contain an unfolding of the condition of the church in successive stages of its history. Third, that the epistles give a picture of seven conditions of church life to be found continuously in the history of the church of Christ. My own conviction is that all these are true. I propose, however, to consider them in light of the first and third, that is to say, as letters written to actual churches and as having perpetual application to some phase of church life. While there is very little doubt that they do reveal a process in the history of the church, upon that phase of their teaching I do not intend to touch. We shall first look at the vision which arrested John in the isle of Patmos, then at the seven epistles, endeavoring to gather their message to the age in which we live so that we are to give attention to a first century message to 20th century Christians. In dealing with each of the epistles we shall notice four distinct matters. 1. Christ's title. 2. Christ's commendation. 3. Christ's complaint. 4. Christ's counsel. These will not always be in this exact order, for in some cases either commendation or complaint is omitted, but for these as main points of interest we shall look in our studies. End of chapter 1