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Look at Christ's humiliation and at Paul's. In all his tribulation he could always say, Christ went lower down than this; and he could always commit himself to God, as to a faithful Creator. There were other things in which Christ's sympathy was expressed in a different way. Christ never sinned-never had a fretful will, &c.; but He tasted all the bitterness of that in taking it upon the cross. I must realize the cross to understand His sympathy in this. It was when He passed through death for it; and now He can say, " I am he which Was dead, and am alive."
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(Rev. 2)
In coming to the Church of Ephesus, the Lord was coveting fruit from them. It was a thing He desired to find. To Smyrna He says, " I know thy works." And what follows? There was what God saw in them, and what Satan could 'see in them: " Tribulation, poverty (but thou art rich)." The saint is often the most spiritual when in the most humbling circumstances, and the reverse. When David was on the top of the tree, his will was breaking out. Never was he so near God as in his adversity. We ought to be able to pass through prosperity without loss, being instructed, as Paul, " to be full, and to be empty; to abound, and to suffer need." Paul goes right through to the end of his course, And the end was lost in brightness. We should look to be able also; but generally it is easier to go through the afflictions, tribulations, &c., with the soul right with God. " I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and are not." Here is the old tale again at Smyrna-profession without reality-saying they are Jews when they are not so; and the effect of their wishing to get a place brings in trial for Smyrna. If a person begins doing things for his own honor, professing it to be for God, it will be sure to end in casting off God altogether. If he begins with God he will end with God. We have need to be jealous over ourselves, whether what we hang outside be according to the true expression inside. The spiritual energy of Paul was such, that what came outside was what was within; and nothing more came out than was within.
Walking with God is the only safeguard of a saved sinner. I would rather come up the day after the company, if I could not go up that day. Perhaps it might be my own fault; but it is better than to go on with others, without God leading me. The great thing is to walk in the same spirit as Christ walked; as He said, " My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." Take God's will, and suffer in it; that is the happy thing. The most precious part of Paul's service was in suffering-not in doing. So also Christ's when He went to the cross.
Those who are seen by no one, but suffering God's will, may be doing much more than where there is much to attract with " see here, or see there."
The contrast in ver. 10 is between the ten days tribulation and " the crown of life." The second death has no power over the overcomer.
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Rev. 2:8-11
The peculiarity of the church of Smyrna is, that it preserved its character before God. There is something very blessed in this state indicated. The end signifies that they would be able to go through death for Christ's sake and therefore the promise is, that they should not be hurt of the second death, but have a crown of life. The character in which Christ comes to them is remarkably blessed. There is none so high as that of the " First and the Last," because it is that which is connected with the Person of the Lord. His title of Alpha and Omega is connected with testimony, the expression of the " Word which was made flesh," &c. The " beginning and the ending" is connected with the human character; but the " First and the Last" implies something before there was a beginning, and after there is an ending.
Christ comes to this church in this divine character, " the First and the Last," because the Church is looked at as divine. The heavenly character of the Church is another thing-contrasted with the earthly dealing with the Jews, not brought out until Christ has taken His place at God's right hand. There is another thing also connected with this: there are certain persons got into the heavenlies, without being the Church. The Church is more than heavenly; it is divine-the mystery, His body; and it shows forth thus what Christ has been. It is a higher thing to be able to say, " I am a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" than to say, " I am of the heavenlies." So here, Christ as the First and Last connects Himself with the Church as Son of God: and it is a higher thing for the Christian to be able to say, I am united to Christ the Son of God, than Christ •the Son of man-though He is both.
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1 Cor. 11
There is something deeply affecting in the plea which our Master put before us, in connection with this supper, in the appeal He makes to us-to do it " in remembrance of Him." It is a commemorative act; an act showing that our hearts have personal affection to Himself. " This do in remembrance of me." I am sure our souls feel the poverty of doctrine, in comparison of truth, as we get it in connection with the person of Jesus. The sweetest part is, " Do it in remembrance of me." That you and I should be in the wilderness to remember Jesus-to sympathize with Him in His death and sufferings I This is the place in which we stand in connection with Hini. That He can look on us poor saved tnes-sinners that we are, though saved ones-and say to His Father, There are a few gathered in my name remembering me And that is joy to Him, to the heart of the Lord, and a refreshment to Him. And He can thus joy in our joy at the remembrance of what He has done for us. It is bearing affection to Him, personal remembrance to Him is the sweet thought and assurance-not mere doctrinal knowledge. Very often we find much personal love to the Lord, when there is very little clear understanding of truth. We could not do it intelligently, without seeing the love of Christ.
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The Church in the glory, that is to come, will have all the glories of Christ laid open to her. There will be no distinction between Christ and God, for it is " the throne of God and the Lamb." All the glories, all the relations between them, will be open to the Church, for she is with Him there, as His Bride. The earthly people who behold Jehovah in the temple will not know the Lord as Bridegroom in the heavenlies, which is a higher thing.
The Smyrnian Church is recognized as in a position to see the blessedness of this; and thus the character in which Christ comes to her is perfectly spiritual and moral. They were brought into sorrow and humiliation, but they were in a state capable of having sympathy with the mind of Christ. Taste for truth depends upon the state of your own souls. There are some states of soul in which the circumstances connected with Christ take most hold of the soul, and others in which the Person of Christ has most attraction. The caliber of a person's soul may be known by what he most delights in of Christ. The Laodicean state of the Church is met by the promise of sitting on Christ's throne, to those who overcome. Christ speaks of Himself to John as the first and the last; which was dead and is alive again. So here to Smyrna. What was comfort to John would be comfort to them. There is an answer in the Person of Christ to all the circumstances.