The Unchanging Attitude of Christ

They Learn the True and Unchanging Attitude of Christ to the Church

This brings us at once to the consideration of what Christ is to the Church. How beautifully it comes before us in the Lord's own gracious words:

· I know thy works.

· I have set before thee an open door.

· I will make them to come and worship before thy feet.

· I have loved thee.

· I also will keep thee.

· I come quickly.

· Him that overcometh will I make a pillar.

First, the Lord can say, "I know thy works." Philadelphia possesses no great works that the world can appreciate or that would give them a place of pre-eminence in the religious world. They do not seek to publish moving reports of evangelical campaigns or assembly progress, nor to compile records of devoted lives. They do not seek the approval of men but the approval of the Lord. It is enough for them that the Lord has taken account of their works. They rest in the fact that He has said, "I know thy works."

Second, the Lord can say, "I have set before thee an open door." Philadelphia realizes the power of the Lord exercised on behalf of the Church in setting before it an open door that no man can shut. Thus it was in the beginning. Without human influence, human organization or human learning, the testimony of the Church was sustained in the presence of a hostile world. The Lord "opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles" (Acts 14: 27) and no man could shut it. Again the Apostle can say "a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries" (1 Cor. 16: 9). The testimony of one man could not be silenced by many adversaries if the Lord opened a door for that man.

Third, the Lord in dealing with those who oppose can say, "I will make them of the synagogue of Satan," and again, "I will make them to come and worship before thy feet." Philadelphia thus realizes the subduing power of the Lord in dealing with opposition to His Church. There are those who "say they are Jews and are not, but do lie." Such hold an official religious position before the world and profess to be the people of God on the ground of a hereditary religion based upon tradition which appeals to the natural man. Such will always be in deadly opposition to those who return to the spiritual features of the Church. But the Lord can subdue such as far as He sees fit. He can expose their true character, for He says, "I will make them of the synagogue of Satan." In spite of their religious pretension they will be manifested to be only a Satanic imitation of the Jewish system. On the other hand, the Lord will make them acknowledge what is according to Himself. "I will make them to come and worship before thy feet." Thus Philadelphia realizes not only the support of the Lord in opening doors, but also the subduing power of the Lord in dealing with opposition.

Fourth, with great delight the Lord can say, "I have loved thee." Philadelphia realizes the Lord's love to the Church. It is the opposers who draw forth this expression of the Lord's love. Such will have to learn what the Philadelphians already knew, that Christ loves His Church. The departure of the Church from the place of witness to Christ arose from leaving "first love" to Christ. This meant that the consciousness of Christ's love to the Church was lost. In Philadelphia there is a return to the sense of Christ's love to the Church and hence a revival of love to the Lord.

Fifth, those whom Christ loves He will surely keep. Hence the Lord can say, "I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Having returned to the truth of the Church, Philadelphia has no delusion as to the course of this world. Philadelphia knows full well that all the desperate efforts of men to bring about universal peace, relieve poverty and improve social conditions, will entirely fail.

In spite of alliances, conferences, leagues and treaties, there fast approaches an hour of unprecedented trial for those who dwell upon the earth, when before the rising tide of revolutionary passions, governments will be overturned, treaties will be torn up, alliances will be broken and the whole edifice of society will fall to ruin. But Philadelphia knows that the Church will be kept out of the terror and confusion of this hour of trial, by being caught away to meet the Lord in the air. Sixth, the Lord encourages Philadelphia with His arresting words, "I come quickly." The hour of patience will give place to the day of glory when Christ will come forth in power and glory and display His Church all glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Philadelphia is in the secret of this blessed hope which ends the path of suffering and leads to an eternity of blessing.

Seventh, when Christ comes, His reward will be with Him. The Philadelphian seeks no power and fills no place of prominence in this world, but of the overcomer the Lord can say, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God." Such is the attitude that the Lord takes toward Philadelphia. It is, however, important to remember that it represents the Lord's true and unchanging attitude towards the whole Church. It is not simply His attitude toward a Philadelphian company. It is true they alone may realize it, but what they realize is true for the whole Church. The Church may have changed and grievously departed from her right attitude to Christ, but Christ is the same and His attitude to His Church has never changed. He still knows all that is of Himself, He still supports His Church, He still subdues those who oppose His Church, He still loves His Church, and He will preserve her from the trial that is coming upon the earth. He is coming for His Church and at the last will display the Church in glory, in company with Himself.

Thus, in the assembly of Philadelphia we have a company of people under the eye of the Lord who, in the midst of the ruin of the Church, return to the true attitude of the Church to Christ and learn the true and unchanging attitude of Christ to the Church. Moreover, being in right relations with Christ, they are a company of people who are in right relations with all those who are Christ's, for the very name Philadelphia means, "love of the brethren." Thus they walk in obedience to the "new commandment" given to the disciples in the Lord's last discourse, "that ye love one another" (John 13: 34). Again as the Lord unfolds before His disciples the lovely picture of the new Christian company in John 15: 9-17, He twice repeats His command "that ye love one another" (John 15:12, 17).

No breakdown of the Church in responsibility can for one moment set aside the Lord's new command given "in the beginning": it abides to the end. It is significant that the Lord's description of the new company opens with the assertion of His great love for His own (John 15:9). It is only as we abide in the sense of the Lord's love to all His own that we shall be constrained to love all that are His. It must be remembered that Philadelphia does not mean "love of the Philadelphians," but love of the brethren. Sadly, many may be found in religious systems from which we are bound to separate, if we are determined to keep His Word and not deny His Name; nevertheless, "love of the brethren" will lead out one's affections to all who are "His brethren." In spite of all barriers, love will find some outlet for practical expression while maintaining all that is due to holiness, for divine love will always be linked with divine holiness.

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