APOCALYPSE 2


...a cross section of ecclesial life as viewed by Christ. The key thought with which each begins is "I know thy works." And we notice the emphasis upon "works," so belittled in Protestantism. All is known, noted and permanently recorded. Mainly they are urgent warnings. To five of the seven, he has to say "repent, or else." Things were not good in the ecclesias. They never have been. Only a very few will be saved. We must take both warning and encouragement from this, and we must constantly compare ourselves, not with each other, but with the perfect standard of the Word.

Bro Growcott - A review of The Apocalypse



Thy first love 


The accepted in the day of judgment say, "When did we those things for which we are being commended?" The rejected say, "When did we have an opportunity to do more than we did?"

The only safe and acceptable frame of mind is that which strains every effort to render the best possible account of time and talents, but with a clear recognition of the deceptiveness of the flesh and the ever-present danger of failure if the efforts are relaxed. Any other course is gambling with eternity. Any other counsel is the mind of the serpent. If we could be doing more, and we are not doing it, how can we hope to be among the few chosen when myriads are swept away like a drop in the bucket?

What distinguishes us from those myriads, that we should live forever, and they should die? Is God a respecter of persons or have we that one thing they lack - an entire, consuming devotion for the things of God? It won't come overnight. It won't just happen to us while we sleep. It can only come as the result of purposeful and sustained application and effort.

Do we, in moments of leisure or relaxation, turn to natural pleasures or to the Word of God? Here is the test of what is the deep undercurrent of our natures, and whether it will carry us to life or death. Do we do God's service as burdensome, necessary work, longing for a vacation from it; or is it a constant pleasure because of our great love for the One we are serving and our desire to be near Him and approved of Him?

There is the message to Ephesus. Let us look at it - Revelation 2. If we just read verses 2 and 3, what verdict would we give of Ephesus? Works, labour, patience, canst not bear evil, hast tried and exposed false professors of the truth; hast borne and hast not fainted. What more could be asked? What more could be done? They had fought the fight and kept the faith. Surely they could say with assurance, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown."

But what do we find? Thou hast left thy first love - thou art fallen. Repent or I will come quickly and remove thy candlestick.

The outer shell of works and labour and patience continued, but the original inner love was gone. They worked and endured and had patience faithfully, but just as a matter of duty, and were doubtless glad to get away from it all occasionally when they felt they had legitimate excuse to do so. They were conscious of their own patience and self-sacrifice. They performed the service of God as a necessary burden, faithfully done, but without the spontaneous pleasure and enthusiasm of love.

This does not please God. If, after all God has done and revealed and promised for the future, men are not sufficiently enlightened and spiritually motivated to discern that the only real pleasure and satisfaction and relaxation is in Him and in His service, then He does not want their labours as a matter of burdensome duty, no matter how faithfully or patiently they are performed. We cannot give God anything. Even the service He requires is but the provision that His love has made for us to discover and enjoy the highest form of pleasure He has conceived and made possible.

Bro Growcott - Self Examination.


EPHESIAN STATE 

Existing before the opening, and extending into the period of the First seal. Christians fallen from their first love and works - Rev. ii. 4,5. Ignatius A.D. 107.



1 Unto the angel of the ecclesia of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden <Lampstands>;

That he reads the heart, and will cause every man to find according to his own ways, even now (Rev. 2:1, 23). If men could but see it, there is reason to fear the judgment of Christ even now. He appeals to this in his message to Sardis.

"If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I shall come upon thee."

This statement, shows that the threatened retribution does not refer to the judgment seat at his coming, for that will be open and recognizable by all. It is a retribution in the ways of providence in which his hand is not visible. The wrecking of an ecclesia, or the separation of a body of people through some apparently human issue may be the result of this interference.

There is always reason for an ecclesia being on its guard towards Christ. But an ecclesia as a whole may be dead, and a few in it alive. This is shown by the words with which Jesus concludes the local part of his message:

"thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy."

Here is comfort for those living and true brethren and sisters who may find themselves in the unhappy position of being associated with dead professors whom they are powerless to galvanize into life. Remember that Christ's approval of you will not be weaker but only all the more cordial that your souls are grieved from day to day with the insipidity and the death of the nominal professors of the Truth with whom you have now to mingle;

"Spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you; feeding themselves without fear; clouds without water; carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea; foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."

Seasons 2.27



The Ephesian ecclesia commended


"Thou canst not bear them that are evil, and thou hast tried them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars."

This is the best answer to those who accuse us of uncharitableness on account of our hostility to that which is opposed to the revealed will of Christ, and because of our application of the test of truth to the modern professors of apostleship or successorship to the apostles.

If the Ephesian attitude in these matters secured the approbation of Christ, a British attitude will do the same if righteously sustained. And if we secure Christ's approbation, it matters nothing if the whole world condemn us.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse



2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

He walked in the midst of the brethren in the days of John, in the sense of knowing, and watching, and affecting all their affairs. It scarcely needs to be remarked that if true in the first century, it is true now, and that, consequently, the affairs of the brethren are everywhere open to his view and subject to his manipulation.

"I know thy works:"

this fact follows from Christ's relation to the seven candlesticks. It is a comforting fact to everyone who is striving to walk acceptably before God, and perhaps failing to secure the approbation of men. It may seem to us as if our affairs were unknown and unheeded. Time goes on and nothing comes of it, and we may become "weary and faint in our minds". Perhaps there were some in Ephesus who felt like this. They had been forty or fifty years in existence as an ecclesia before receiving this indication of the Lord's mind concerning them.

We have not had so long a career as that. Let us bear up against the effects of apparent delay. The Lord is noticing, and so to speak, recording proceedings from day to day. When he comes, He will let us know what He thinks, and give us the results in a very substantial form. He will express His approval if our course admit of it.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse



APOSTLES

-"Thou thyself tried them that say they are apostles, and are not; and thou foundest them liars."-(Rev. 2:2).

The word is Greek, αποστολος apostolos, from αποστελλα, to send. An apostle is a person sent by another upon some business. Herodotus, lib. 1, chap. 21, uses the word for a public herald, or ambassador. It is used in the New Testament frequently, and is there applied to Christ, who was by the Father sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Paul styles him

"the Apostle and High Priest of our confession."-(Heb. 3:1).

It is most frequently applied to the disciples whom Jesus sent and qualified for the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom. It is likewise applied to others. Paul styles some of his co-labourers "apostles of ecclesias, a glory of Christ."-(2 Cor. 8:23).

"I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, "

says Paul, which implies that a man is not necessarily an apostle because he is a preacher. All were not apostles. They only were apostles of Christ who had seen Jesus Christ after his resurrection; and had the signs of an apostle, such as

"signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds."-(Acts 1:20-26; 1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 12:12).

Hence, an apostle of Christ is one sent and qualified by him, and through whom, as his attested ambassador, he speaks to the world, beseeching it to be reconciled to God.-(2 Cor. 5:20). There are no true apostles now.

The Christadelphian, June 1872



4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

In the days of the Apocalypse, the seven ecclesiaes of Anatolia were becoming thus defiled. They had left their first love, they were infested with the disciples of Balaam, and the adherents of Jezebel; death had overshadowed them, debility had seized upon them, and lukewarmness paralyzed their enterprise.

The Lord Jesus, who walked among them, saw that apostasy was establishing itself in their midst. He accordingly threatened them with various evils he would bring upon them, if they did not change their minds, and return from their misdeeds to the position from whence they had fallen.

Among these threatenings, was the very remarkable one, namely, that the hierarchial ministration of the Spirit should be removed. Thus, to "the angel," or hierarchy of the Ephesian heritage, one of "the stars of his right hand," he says,

"Remember from whence thou art fallen, and change thy mind, and do thy first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy light-stand out of its place, except thou repent."

As Paul had foretold, men had entered into the Ephesian hierarchy, saying they were apostles, but were not so. They acted perversely, teaching the doctrine, and doing the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which were hateful to the Lord. We have no means of knowing whether his exhortations to repentance were regarded or not.

If they were, it was probably but a fitful and transient reformation. Those in the ecclesia who had tried these self-styled apostles, and found them liars, would, doubtless, redouble their efforts to eject them, and to suppress their heresies, on receiving from the Patmian Exile, the Lord Jesus' approbation of the stand they had taken.

But experience teaches, that when evil sets in, the resistance of faith is sooner or later overcome; for, though truth is mighty, righteousness will not prevail in ecclesias or States, until the presence of the Lord shall intimidate the vile.

This experience is illustrated by the fate, not only of the seven Anatolian congregations, but of all the Lord's heritages planted by the Spirit in the primitive ages. In all the Roman habitable not one remains. Smyrna, Thessalonica, Athens, Philadelphia, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, &c., still exist, but, as containing lights for the illumination of the surrounding darkness, they exist no more.

The fate of Ephesus and Laodicea, uninhabited ruins, is the type of Christianity in those once populous and divinely-favored cities. The Lord's threat is an accomplished fact throughout the habitable. The light-stands have been removed, and the lights extinguished. Roman, Greek, and Protestant hierarchies lord it over the countries, but they are carcases without life, ecclesiastical corporations of

"mockers, who walk after their own ungodly lusts, sensual, and without the Spirit.-Jude 19

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Dec 1856



They had "left their first love"

Christ had "somewhat against" the brethren in Ephesus. We must understand this in the light of scriptural definitions of love, and not according to the modern notion which limits love to sentiment. It means more than affection: it means love in practical manifestation. "This is love", says John,

"that we walk after (in accordance with) his commandments" (2 John 6).

Jesus also says,

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me" (John 14:21).

Hence a return to first love is a return to first acts. This is the interpretation Jesus gives of it in the message,

"Repent, and do the first works" (verse 5).

Christ requires a continuance -- a patient continuance, in well doing (Rom. 2:7). He declared it expressly in this form,

"He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved" (Matt. 24:13).

This is reasonable: for where would be the value of a man's friendship which cools off with time and tires in those practical manifestations which give it value?

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse



Timothy's part in Ephesus seems to have been successfully performed, if we are to judge by the message the ecclesia received from the Lord Jesus, through John in Patmos, about 35 years afterwards.

...The career of the ecclesia during all these years had thus been a satisfactory one, as regarded their repudiation of the "some" who sought to entangle them in irrelevant and profitless controversies about the law and other things; and, as regards their perseverance in the course required by their profession, as the servants of Christ.

In this we have an example. We are surrounded by pretenders, and apostolic pretenders, too. By the Word we have found them liars, and have, consequently, come out from among them. From them that are evil, we are also to withdraw,

"hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

If these things were commended in the Ephesian ecclesia, the commendation was written that believers, in all subsequent ages might go and do likewise; for is it not added, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith to the ecclesias?" Consequently, so far as our case may answer to that of Ephesus in these particulars, we may take comfort.

But there is another feature in the case of Ephesus to be noted, which brings warning with it. It is this:

"nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love."

This is an intimation that the good things commended in the early career of the ecclesia had ceased to be characteristic of it. It is not that as a matter of sentiment, their enthusiasm had cooled with the progress of time and trial, which is natural enough; but that the fruits-the "works" that spring from faith-had abated from a weariness in well-doing against which Paul had warned the believers.

That this is what is meant is evident from the counsel with which the reproof is associated.

"Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works."

They had stopped doing the first works, which was "leaving their first love." "Love" and "works" are synonymous in the vocabulary of the spirit. A sentimental love, unaccompanied by obedience, is not accepted. "This is the love of God," says John, "that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3), which is equivalent to the declaration of Christ, "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you."-(John 15:14.)

The Ephesian believers had slackened in their obedience. In this they had left their first love. Herein is our warning. If an ecclesia under apostolic superintendence could so far degenerate from the apostolic standard of conformity to the law of Christ, what may not our danger be who have no living apostle to recal us to our duty?

Against this danger there is only one secure defence, and that is, holding daily interviews with the spirit in the reading of "what it saith" in its appointed channels of utterance, viz., the writings of the holy men of old who were moved by it.

By this, as Peter intended in the writing of his epistles (2 Peter 1:15; 3:1, 2), we shall be enabled to have "these things always in remembrance." Giving, thus, an earnest heed to the things we have heard, we shall not let them slip.-(Heb. 2:1.)

Continuing in prayer without ceasing, we shall be built up in our most holy faith, and strengthened to that continual abounding in the work of the Lord, which shall secure for us at the coming of the Lord the commendation he bestowed on the ecclesia at Ephesus, without its accompanying rebuke of evil omen.

Sunday Morning 41

The Christadelphian, Feb 1873 



THOU HAS LEFT THY FIRST LOVE

They had gradually lost sight of their original foundation. Iniquity, the robust offspring of the flesh, had gradually increased its foothold in the form of pride, or self-satisfaction, or ambition, or combativeness, or some other fleshly motive for doing spiritual things, or just plain thoughtless habit, and had choked out love, the delicate fruit of the Spirit.

Satan, masking as an angel of light, had deceived the very elect. But the Son of Man, who reads the innermost hearts, was not deceived.

The solemn lesson is that we must constantly examine our own motives, for just doing is not enough. On every occasion we must honestly ask ourselves why we do what we do -- examine our hearts as to whether a Christlike love, kindness and gentleness is our motive and the Spirit is our instructor and guide.

Often, if we truly search our hearts, we shall find that our supposed good actions have purely fleshly roots. In fact, this will always be so except where there is a conscious reining in of the flesh and a deliberate applying of the law of the Spirit, for

"In the flesh dwells no good thing" (Rom. 7:18).

We must, guided by the instruction of the Spirit, devise tests to expose the deception. If we are self-willed in our good deeds, impatient of criticism or opposition, if we insist on it being done our way, if we self-righteously regard ourselves as carrying the burden for others, if any anger or bitterness enters our mind, if our basic approach to others' views is not patience and a sympathetic desire to understand, then love is not our motive. We do not have the spiritual picture. We are yet carnal.

It is so easy to gratify our pride and increase our self-esteem by doing things for others and for the Truth. But the great and essential work is within -- overcoming our own flesh.

So often it sadly works the other way -- the more a man does for others and supposedly for God, the less godly he becomes in the all-important matter of inner self-control and the true, yielding gentleness of humility.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.25




5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

This is an intimation that the good thing commended in the early career of this ecclesia had ceased to be characteristic of it. It is not that as a matter of sentiment their enthusiasm had cooled with the progress of time and trial, which is natural enough; but that the fruits -- the "works" that spring from faith -- had abated from a weariness in well-doing against which Paul had warned the believers.

That this is what is meant is evident from the counsel with which the reproof is associated. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." They had stopped doing the first works, which was "leaving their first love."

"Love" and "works" are synonymous in the vocabulary of the Spirit. A sentimental love, unaccompanied by obedience, is not accepted. "This is the love of God," says John, "that we keep his commandments" (1 John 5:1), which is equivalent to the declaration of Christ, "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John 15:14).

The Ephesian believers had slackened in their obedience. In this they had left their first love. Herein is our warning. If an ecclesia under apostolic superintendence could so far degenerate from the apostolic standard of conformity to the law of Christ, what may not our danger be who have no living apostle to recall us to our duty?

Against this danger there is only one secure defence, and that is, holding daily interviews with the Spirit in the reading of "what it saith" in its appointed channels of utterance, the writings of the holy men of old who were moved by it. By this, as Peter intended in the writing of his epistles (2 Pet. 1:15; 3:1, 2), we shall be enabled to have "these things always in remembrance."

Bro Roberts - Unprofitable questions



Jesus threatened the removal of the candlestick in case of non-reformation. As the candlestick stood for the ecclesia, this was equivalent to saying that he would break up the ecclesia if the brethren were not earnestly attentive to his requirements. This is another indication of Christ's control of providence; for how would he remove the candlestick?

Not by open visitation but by the disintegrating action of adverse circumstances regulated by him. As he said to Sardis:

"If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee" (chap. 3:3).

The threat however involved a further point. That is, it meant more than merely interfering with the existence of the community. It referred particularly to the withdrawal of that symbolic oil for the combustion of which in light-giving, the candlestick was a mere apparatus, and without which it was of no use. To withdraw the oil was practically to remove the candlestick.

Oil symbolically used stands for the Spirit of God...The Spirit of God was bestowed upon the ecclesias in the first century. It was this that constituted them the Spirit's candlesticks. Hence the threat was a threat of the withdrawal of the Spirit. The threat was duly carried into effect.

The reformation desired did not set in. The Apostasy, which Paul declared to be in active progress before his death, got the upper hand everywhere, and the candlesticks were removed in all senses, since which day, the light of inspiration has been extinct, except in so far as it survives in the writings of the Spirit -- the oracles of God which are to us a treasure beyond price.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse



First seal

SMYRNEAN STATE From A.D. 96.


The White Horse.  Roman people in peace, and prosperous. Paganism declining. Nominal Christianity on the increase with blasphemy. The Ephesian ethics assuming the Smyrnean phases - Rev. ii. 9 Justin, 165; Polycarp, 167; Martyrs of Lyons and Irenaeus, 177.



8 And unto the angel of the ecclesia in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;

SMYRNA.

Jesus introduces himself as

"the first and the last, who was dead and is alive".

In this, he presents his origin and history in a phrase. He is the First,--the Father, the Eternal in manifestation. You say, "That is intelligible, but how can he be 'the Last'?"

Well, if we realize that when God's purpose with the earth is finished, Jesus will be the occupant and possessor thereof for ever, at the head of ransomed mankind, we can understand how, in relation to the history of the earth, he is the final--the Last.

His having died and risen are incidents in the history that leads from the "First" state to the "Last" state. It was natural he should place these in the foreground, because he was about to promise a crown of life for faithfulness unto death.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse 



9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

The satan was the contentious party which say they are Jews and appear so outwardly but they are heretics to be rejected. In the days of Antipas the Satan became powerful having sought political and worldly advantage. Eventually clothed with power and honour the Catholic church became the enemy and persecutor of Antipas the seed of the woman who fled 1260 years into the far reaches of the habitable to escape death.

Eureka


...soon after the breaking up of the Mosaic Commonwealth by the Romans, A.D. 70, the Judaizers changed the relations of things. They argued, that now the Levitical Order was removed, the Elderships of the ecclesias should take its place; and as the tribe of Levi was Yahweh's clergy, lot, or heritage under the law, so the Elderships should now be regarded as his clergy under the gospel; not forgetting to put in a claim for Levi's tithes and other perquisites.

Whatever might have been thought of the claim, and the argument to enforce it, matters not; the Judaizing Presbyters and Deacons became the "priest and Levites" of the growing apostasy; and soon after ripened into a Hierachy, or "Holy Order," called "The Clergy," in contradistinction to the multitude, whom they styled ho laos, the Laity, or common people.

Having successfully usurped the birthright of Christ's brethren, andimposed themselves upon the Deity as his charge, or lot, an element of "the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not, but the synagogue of the Satan" (Apoc. 2:9), they were prepared to push onwards for the Satan's throne.

About the middle of the second century, a very important change occurred promotive of this unhallowed ambition. The innovation then taking place, was a marked distinction between the Bishop and the Elder; in consequence of which a third kind of office was created; so that, instead of Episcopal Elders, or bishops and deacons, we come to read in ecclesiastical authors of bishops, presbyters and deacons.

In a collection of epistles attributed to Ignatius, this novel and unscriptural distinction frequently and officially obtrudes upon the reader. This novelty soon came to be generally admitted, and paved the way for pernicious results. The adoption of the idea laid the foundation for the dominion of a Clerical King, or Pontiff, with clerical officials; a kingdom which, having originated in the Mystery of Iniquity, could not possibly ultimate in any other manifestation than that which has filled the habitable with hypocrisy and crime for sixteen hundred years.

Eureka 13.13.



He accuses some of blasphemy in saying they were Jews when they were not ... "He is a Jew that is one inwardly" - Rom. 2: 29.



10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil [the diabolism of human nature incorporate in organized authority] shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.



11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the ecclesias; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The second death will be second death in relation to the experience of those who undergo it. It will be the second time they have died. Though the substance of which they are made may be new, old memories will be associated with it, rendering them the very persons that lived in a former state. This is illustrated to us every day in the new substance we take as food going to build up old memories.

The Christadelphian, Dec 1898



The second death is prefaced with the agonizing knowledge of a divine rejection publicly proclaimed. There is no hope in it, and it comes at last with violence and pain...The promise of exemption from it... is to those who get the upper hand in the conflict created by the reception of the truth.

This is a conflict with clamorous propensities within, and importunate interests without. That which overcomes, John says, is "our faith" (I John 5:4); and Paul tells us that

"faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17).

So that the man who overcomes is the man in whom the word of truth dwells richly by reason of its being caused to indwell abundantly through the constant reading and study of the Scriptures. A full conviction of the things written therein is faith, and faith gives power to

"deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world".

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse



Second seal


PERGAMIAN STATE - From A.D. 185.

The Red Horse. Civil wars and bloodshed - Rev. vi. 4. The Smyrnean State becoming Pergamian. Holders of the doctrine of Balaam and the Nikolaitanes - Rev. ii. 14,15. Celsus objected, that Christians were now so split into sects, that only the name remained to them in common. Tertullian. Pantaenus, Clemens Alexandrinus; and first Divinity school at Alexandria in Egypt.

12 And to the angel of the ecclesia in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;



9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

The satan was the contentious party which say they are Jews and appear so outwardly but they are heretics to be rejected. In the days of Antipas the Satan became powerful having sought political and worldly advantage. Eventually clothed with power and honour the Catholic church became the enemy and persecutor of Antipas the seed of the woman who fled 1260 years into the far reaches of the habitable to escape death.

Eureka



13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

The Yahweh-Name in prophecy comprehends the things concerning the Christ in his birth, life, sufferings, resurrection, and glory. To understand the Yahweh-Name, as exhibited in the writings of the prophets, is to "know the joyful sound" -- to believe "the gospel of the Deity which he had promised before by the prophets in the holy scriptures," concerning his Son the Christ, made of the seed of David according to flesh, and constituted son of Deity in power according to spirit of holiness (Rom. i. 1-4): and to understand the same name historically and doctrinally expounded, as it is in the New Testament, is to understand "the things concerning the kingdom of the Deity, and the name of Jesus Anointed" of the Spirit (Acts viii. 12).

In the teaching of Jesus "the name," "the gospel," and "the kingdom of the Deity," are interchangeably used. Thus in Matt. xix. 29, he says, that every one who forsaketh any thing "for my name's sake shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit aion-life;"

The Name is expressive of a personal existence "among men." In its first sojourn here, though it was the Deity's Name, it was a name of no reputation; it was without rule, being the name of a servant, of a humiliated, oppressed, and afflicted man, absolutely obedient to the will of the Deity, even unto the death of the cross. Wherefore "God also," says Paul, in Phil. ii. 9, "hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of heavenlies and of earthlies, and of subterraneans; and every tongue confess that Jesus Anointed is Lord to the glory of Deity the Father."

Eureka - The Name

Satan

The "coming man" appeared A.D. 306, in the character of a worshipper of the sun, named Constantine. This pagan aspirant, ambitious of the supreme and sole dominion of the Roman Habitable, then ruled by six emperors, came to an understanding with "the Christian Hierarchy" of the Satan, which, for the sake of distinguishing it from the real christian community, may be styled "catholic."

Constantine and the Catholics made common cause to remove "what withholdeth" by force of arms, that their own Satanism might be enthroned. After a conflict of six or seven years, they succeeded in planting the Cross, the symbol of the New Power, upon the Capitol in Rome.

Eureka 2.3.3.



14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Tolerating Balaamites


"an heart exercised with covetous practices, which have forsaken the right way, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness" - 2 Peter 2:15.

Hence the Balaamites were men of sinister aim, who not only made use of the truth for purposes of gain, but conformed with wrong and unscriptural ways for the sake of earning money which could not otherwise be earned.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse






Balaam.

The points of his character were covetousness, perverseness, presumptuousness, unrighteousness, beguiler of unstable Israelites, apostasy from the right way. Where such attributes of character meet in a class of persons, they are said in the New Testament to be "following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor;" and Balaam becomes the representative of the class. Eureka.

Thus, in the days of the apostles, there were "false teachers" in the Christian congregations, whose motives, teaching, and practices, were analogous to Balaam's. They were "grievous wolves," wasters of the people, "speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." They taught that belief of the gospel, and being baptized, was not enough; but that, in addition to this, it was necessary also to be circumcised, and keep the law of Moses, or men could not be saved.

They appended this dogma to the wholesome words of the Lord Jesus, in order to popularize his doctrine, and make it palatable to the Jews. Paul styles it "another gospel; which (truly) is not another, but a perversion thereof." He says that they who preached it were "accursed" that they sought to bring believers into bondage; and that, desiring to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrained their victims to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ (Acts xv. 1-5: xx. 29,30; Gal. i. 6,7: ii. 4: v. 10: vi. 12).

They proceeded from bad to worse. They inculcated a distinction of meats and drink; the observance of holy days, new moons, and sabbaths; and a voluntary humility in neglecting the body, and worshipping of angels. They not only commanded to abstain from meats, but they also forbad to marry; and corrupted the minds of their dupes with fables, endless genealogies, and doctrines of demons (Col. ii. 16,18,22,23; 1 Tim. i. 4: iv. 1,3).

.... The world hates the truth and its advocates and friends to this day, as every one who is of the truth knows by experience; and because, "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father," whose the truth is.

Now who does not know, that it is the world in whom the clergy live, and move, and have their daily bread? Is it not the lust of the eyes and the pride of life that build their temples? Is it not the pride of life that rents their pews, and fills them with flowery cones of purple and fine linen? Is it not the lust of itching ears that heaps to themselves pulpit-fabulists, who rebuke sins afar off they have no mind for; and wink at, or can not see, the pious wickedness that festers within their doors? 

The clergy are paid, and fed, and clothed, and honored by the world. The world invites them to its feasts; makes them priests and chaplains to its fleets and armies, and public institutions; it makes them princes in lawn, and rulers in the state. These are evidences of its love for the clergy; and it has ever been that "the world loves its own;" and they who, like Balaam, love the wages of unrighteousness, it will surfeit with favours and rewards. -

Eureka.



16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.


Hence the Spirit had a controversy with them as well as with the heathen populace, priests, and civil, and imperial rulers. He will not permit His name, His faith, and His faithful and true ones to be disregarded, denied, tormented, and destroyed with impunity.

... no one provokes me without punishment, is the Spirit's maxim with respect to his holy things.

Eureka 6.2.1.



17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the ecclesias; To him that overcometh will I 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.

The Hidden Manna.

'...the apocalyptic Manna is representative of the last Adam, whom Paul styles "a life-imparting spirit;" and to eat from this manna, is to be the subject of incorruptibility of body and life, which together constitute "immortality," in the thousand years' Aion; which deathlessness is imparted by the Spirit which raised up Jesus from among the dead.

Eureka 2.3.7.


Now Dr. Thomas in Eureka, p. 309, deals with this symbol. He translates the passage from the Greek thus, "The Manna which hath been concealed." Now when the congregation of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Sin, as described in Exodus 16, the people were hungry. Being now in the second month of their pilgrimage from Egypt the novelty of their experience was beginning to wear off, and they began to think about the discomfort and loss of their new experiences as contrasted with the "flesh pots and bread of Egypt." To satisfy their needs God gave them "bread from heaven;" "Man did eat angels' food." This was "Manna." "At even," said God, "ye shall eat meat" and quails were sent-"and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread," "and ye shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Elohim."

Now the narrative in Exodus says that as God promised so it was fulfilled. The "meat" arrived at even, and in the morning the "dew lay round about the host, and when the dew was gone up there was left small round things, as hoar frost on the ground." Of this the people gathered and ate.

Now Dr. Thomas calls attention to four things:

1. -That Israel saw the glory of the Eternal before they received either flesh or bread.

2. -That they received bread first, that is, at even.

3. -That they received bread the succeeding morning so that there was an intervening night.

4. -That they beheld the glory and received the food in the wilderness, and forty years before

they reached the Promised Land.

The New Testament lays great stress upon the fact that the pilgrimage of national Israel was symbolical in every detail recorded to the pilgrimage of the Israel after the Spirit. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10: 1-10 speaks of many of these events of the wilderness journey, and concludes,

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples or types: and they are recorded for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come."

That being so, the Manna and the accompanying circumstances of its bestowal are "shadows of things to come." Further as the Spirit in Hebrews 9: 4 reveals a pot of the manna was gathered and put in the Ark in the Holiest place, and while all other of the manna became corrupt after the first-or second-day, this pot remained pure and good.

Here the question arises, What is the spiritual significance of the physical fact of the gift of manna to the Israelites:

There must be such a significance if there is to be any meaning in the promise of Christ in the Revelation. It is evident that the spiritual must be on the same line as the natural, so that we may conclude thus:

1. -The manna was for the sustenance or continuance of life in the natural state, and was itself a figure of mortality in that itself "bred worms and stank."

2. -The manna was given in the morning following a night of darkness.

3. -The night of darkness was preceded by the gift of flesh, and the consequent shedding of blood.

The spiritual application demands therefore:

1. -That the manna shall be "from above," which shall be given to the faithful saints.

2. -That it shall have the property of giving and sustaining life.

3. -That this property shall not be arrested by time as in the case of the scattered manna, but shall have the properties of the "hidden manna," and shall neither possess nor give corruption.

4. -That while the manna of a day merely continued or prevailed for a day, the concealed manna shall sustain and prevail for ever. "Angel's food," "Food of mighty ones,"

"Immortality."

5. -That it be given in the morning following the night of long darkness.

6. -That the flesh which wets God's gift should be given in the beginning of the night before for the life of the people. This was done by the gift of God as expressed by John 3: 16.

"God...........gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

We, therefore, view the household of God as carrying out its pilgrimage in the dark night of Gentile darkness, "For the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people"-Isaiah 60:2.

Before the night began the flesh of Jesus was given that we might live. As Isaiah has prophesied-see 53: 7, "he was led as a lamb to the slaughter." Since that time the saints have been making their pilgrimage onward to the promised land-the Kingdom of God. Sustained by the Word of God and "growing up into Jesus in all things," they go on to the morning's dawn when the Lord will return from heaven and give immortality to his beloved. So Jesus said: "Whoso eateth my flesh.....I will raise him up at the last day." "He that eateth me shall live by me: this is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." Here, then, is a perfect and beautiful symbolism worked out on the basis of events that happened in the beginnings of the nation that God chose.

The Berean Christadelphian, June 1923



The White Pebble


Customs in the East both judicial and social

The judicial custom is to hand in court a white stone to an accused person acquitted in token of his acquittal, and the social custom is for a host to divide a white stone in two halves, and engrave the guest's name on both, retain one, give the guest the other as a passport to future favour and friendship.

In the case of Christ's friends, the name is a new one, intimating that both nature and designation will be changed in the glorious declaration of friendship that will take place in the case of those who overcome.

Jesus gave his leading apostles new names (e.g., Peter: Cephas; James and John: Boanerges: etc.). He will probably re-name his accepted brethren in harmony with the new age to which he will introduce them.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse




The psephos was the pebble used by the ancients in voting, and which was thrown into the voting urn, or as we should say, into the ballot box. Hence it is used for the vote itself. But the voting by psephos, ballot, must be carefully distinguished from that by kuamos, or lot; the former being used in trials, the latter in the election of various officers.

The psaphoi of condemnation or acquittal were sometimes distinguished by being respectively bored, or whole; but kuamoi never. In Acts xxvi. 10, it is said of Paul speaking before Agrippa,

"and when the saints were put to death, I paid down a pebble,"

rendered in the E.V. "I gave my voice against them." His was a pebble of condemnation.

The nature of the vote was determined by the colour of the pebble; a white pebble denoted acquittal, a black one, condemnation. A psaphos was also a token given to the victors in the public games.

Eureka 2.3.9.


Third seal -From A.D. 217


THYATIRAN STATE

The Black Horse.  Distress - Rev. vi. 5. The Pergamium with all its evils merging into the worse Thyatiran. Christianity intensely nominal. The prophetess Jezebel and "the Satan" - Rev. ii. 20,24. The emperors Alexander, A.D. 222; and Philip, 244, nominal Christians. Origen; Cyprian; Felicissimus.

18 And unto the angel of the ecclesia in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;



20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because 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.

Jezebel

Addressing those who had not come under the power of their sophistications, Jesus speaks of them as

"many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak".

Here the phrase "the depths" is quoted from the mouth of the Satan--a teaching plurality consisting of the Balaamites and the Jezebelites. It shows that they had a very complacent estimate of their attainments. They spoke of their views as "the depths", by which, of course, they would mean that their ideas were advanced and profound as compared with the elementary propositions of the gospel with which the simpler members of the congregation were content.

What would there be in their doctrines of which they would speak as "the depths"? We may form some idea from the peculiarities of mysticism both ancient and modern. This system of thought scorns proximate and concrete forms of truth, and dives, or makes profession of diving, into the "essence" and "inner self" of things.

It professes to see in the external world but the expression of a universal "soul," in which the "spiritual analogue" of all things exists. It governs its views of externals by its theories of the assumed internal. Hence, it can respect everything as the symbol of the so-called "eternal good."

It can see something to tolerate and even admire in idolatry and in every form of superstition. Christ it praises, but can also adore Juggernaut, Confucius, and Mahomet. It gives a high place to "Christianity", but would place Greek philosophy on a level with it.

It considers the love of Christ good in its place, but a weakness if exalted over the appreciation of other forms of "goodness". To condemn Paganism is bigotry in the language of this school; to "know nothing but Christ" is narrowness; to believe that salvation is the exclusive association of the gospel, is shallow, superficial, childish.

... The true philosophy is in the Bible: the true depth in its simplicities. We want nothing deeper than God -- inscrutable, granted, but sufficient as a fact, and an explanation of other facts.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse



In writing to Thyatira, the Lord Jesus symbolized the "evil men and seducers" Paul wrote about, by another notorious character of antiquity, Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, whose history was illustrative of their practices, and her fate typical of theirs. Speaking to the eldership of the congregation there, he says,

"Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols."

Fornication, as well as eating of the sacrifices, being both elements of idolatrous worship, are used in the Apocalypse as symbolical actions, representing a departure from the right way, by corrupt or untruthful practices, and by doing what is forbidden, which is idolatry;

"for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry."

This Jezebel was a teacher of the false doctrine, or "knowledge (γνωσις) falsely so called," whose "oppositions" were pervertive and subversive of the doctrines of Christ, by which she seduced his servants from the simplicity of faith and practice which are in him. She was no more an individual woman than the drunken woman who now rides the blood-dyed beast of the Gentiles-Rev. 17.

She was the "Holy Catholic Church" in her incipient ecclesiasticism; the aggregate of the false teachers, or antichrists, contemporary with the apostle John, who had then not as yet

"deceived all nations by her sorceries,"

nor become

"drunken with the blood of the saints and the witnesses of Jesus,"

nor received the embraces of the kings of the earth. As the Jezebel of apostolic times, she had no place in the heaven of the Roman Habitable, not having been yet allied with Ahab in the throne. She confined her operations of necessity to a humbler sphere.

She was the daughter of a king, the god of the world, and destined to become the concubine of many; but in her earlier career she found scope only in increasing her partizans by seducing the servants of the Lord.

The large and rapidly increasing party of the Jezebels was the great faction in the Christian community, whose formative principles are comprehensively styled by Paul,

"The Mystery of Iniquity," in 2 Thess., 2:7.

Jezebel was this mystery symbolized, and of whom was to be born that power termed "The Lawless One," ὀ άομοχ, whose presence was to be the result of

"the working of the Satan in all power, and signs, and wonders of falsehood, and in all seduction of deceitfulness in them who are being lost; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved."

The working of the Satan here, the Lord styles

"the depth of the Satan as they speak."

In these places, "Satan" is a noun of multitude, and stands for "the false prophets," or "antichrists," of the Jezebel faction, who were the Adversary to the servants of Jesus, whose eternal well being their subtilty, where successful, effectually destroyed. In John's day, the throne and palace of this Satan were at Pergamos, Rev. 2:13. Jezebel's teachers and seducers of the saints were appropriately styled Satan, because they were corrupting the doctrine of Christ, by mixing up with it the principles of the existing idolatry, whose organization in church and state was represented by a

"Great Red Dragon, that old serpent, surnamed the Devil and the Satan,"

whose throne and palace were in Rome. If the reader understand this, he will easily comprehend that part of the letter to Thyatira in the twenty-fourth verse, where the Lord says,

"To as many as have not this doctrine, (of Jezebel,) and who have not known the depths of the Satan, as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden."

Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth,

"I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

Paul's fear was not groundless. When the Spirit of God formed the Bride from the side of the Second Adam, and by faith in his resurrection she became partaker of his flesh and bones, on the day of Pentecost, she was as Eve before the fall. As long as she "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, &c.," she continued "a chaste virgin."

But in process of time, men of corrupt minds crept in unawares, and began to discourse to her about the principles of the gentile philosophy, and the desirableness of their commixture with the doctrine of Christ. Unfortunately, she lent but a too willing ear, and was beguiled. The result was unavoidable. She was impregnated with principles which, in a set time, attained maturity, and she gave birth to Cain, The Lawless One.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Dec 1857




26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the [an] end, to him will I give power over the nations:


Shall we refuse the earnest service required, and slacken off and grow supine to suit the easy notions of the natural man? Nay, nay. Wise men will join with Joshua when he said:

"Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh".

Seasons 2.1.


Until an end 

These appointments are to be observed "until an end" -- not until "the end," but "until an end." These two "ends" are a thousand years apart. Alluding to the one, Paul says "all in the Christ shall be made alive at his appearing;" and to the other, says, "afterwards the end." The appearing to make alive, is at the end of "the times of the Gentiles;" but the end afterwards he characterizes by "the delivering up of the Kingdom" of the Millennial Period to the Father when he shall have put down all enemies and destroyed death, which is the last of them. Hence, between "an end" and "the end" there is an important distinction; the former marks the beginning of the restoration of the Kingdom; and the latter, of its surrender to the Father, with a long interval of time between the two epochs.

The appointments to be observed are "until an end" indicated by the words of Jesus and Paul, saying, "This do in remembrance of me till I come." Faith, hope, baptism, and the Lord's supper, are appointments to be observed till he come. When he comes, those will be superseded by other appointments more suitable to the altered condition of the world. The new dispensation will bring with it new appointments; sacrifice will take the place of the Lord's supper; and the feast of tabernacles, the sowing in tears by the side of all waters.

Eureka 2.4.5.



Incarnations of spirit

"To him overcoming and keeping my appointments (τα εργα, things to be done) till the end, I will give authority over the nations, and he shall govern them with an iron sceptre (as earthen vessels it is broken to pieces) as also I received from my Father:"

and

"To him overcoming I will give to sit with me on my throne, as also I overcome, and sit with my Father on his throne"-Rev. 2:26, 27; 3:21.

This throne of Jesus and his Father, is inseparably associated with Zion by covenant with David, who reigned there; and that it does not now exist, Yahweh has said, and none can alter it,

"On Zion, the hill of my holiness, set I my king:"

...When "Zion is redeemed with judgment" out of the hands of the nations, he will perform his oath; and then proceed to give to his Son Jesus those

"nations for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession."

They are decreed to him, but he must overcome them before he receives them. He overcomes first, and then sits upon the throne as "king over all the earth." This is "the joy set before him," which he invites all to share with him "who keep his orders till the end"-Ps. 2; 132; 89; Zech. 14:9.

From these testimonies, then, we may know, if we will not be faithless, but believing, what sort of a government is decreed for the nations; even an administration of divine law by wise, infallible, and immortal men.

This implies the removal of all the governments that exist; and against which the peoples have such impotent hatred and indignation. When this Theocracy prevails, there will be a world-wide

"Ministration of the Spirit"

through the glorified Jesus and his brethren. All nations will be blessed in him, and and call him blessed; and the whole earth will be full of his glory-Ps. 72.

The miserable burlesque of Christianity that now obtains, will be abolished; the clergies and ministers of Christendom, will be suppressed as nuisances; and mankind, freed from the curse of blindness perpetuated by leaders of the blind, will yield enlightened and acceptable service to God; and live in harmony, peace, and joy all the years of their appointed time, from the Imperial East to earth's utmost habitable bounds.

Here, then, is a destiny opened up to the past and present generations. This purpose of God with respect to the world is proclaimed to them; and they are invited to the high calling of coöperating with the Spirit in ruling it in righteousness for a thousand years.

...All who shall find a place in its ranks are required to believe in it with full assurance of faith and hope, while it has no other existence than as a matter of promise.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Mar 1857



27 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.

They [clergy] scoff at the idea of some poor shoemaker, or mechanic, who may be a true believer, taking a position over the nations after the lapse of a few years, to govern them for God in place of Queen Victoria, and the Kings of the earth, who now possess the dominion....

the doctrine of the Eternal Spirit, that "the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him," and who show their love by doing whatsoever he commands them, shall have "dominion over the nations and govern them" with almighty power. This remnant that overcomes will have the honour of breaking up and abolishing forever the kingdom of the clergy with all its ignorance, superstitions, and blasphemies; for "the nations of those who are being saved shall walk in the light," which they, as the New Jerusalem, shall shed upon them (Apoc. xxi. 24).

Where the nations to be governed with an iron sceptre are, there is the dominion of the Saints; who in their resurrection-state, sing a new song saying to the Lamb, "Thou wast slain, and hast purchased us for God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation; and hast made us for our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth;" "with thee a thousand years" (Apoc. v. 9,10; xx. 4,6).

This promise to "the rest among the Thyatirans" is that in Daniel apocalyptically reproduced; 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 Ones," whom all nations and rulers shall serve and obey (Dan. vii. 18,27)... that they might have "dominion over the nations;" and therefore, over Britain, France, Spain, Italy, and so forth, when Jesus Christ should come to raise them from the dead.

Eureka 2.4.5.