View source for In The Last Days

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The addresses to the assemblies in Revelation 2 and 3 were sent to seven assemblies actually existing in the Roman province of Asia in the days of the Apostle John. Bearing in mind, however, that in the introduction to Revelation, the whole book is referred to as "prophecy," it becomes evident that these addresses have a prophetic character. Evidently, the Spirit of God has taken occasion by the conditions existing in these assemblies to portray the consecutive history of the Church from beginning to end, viewed as the responsible witness for Christ on the earth during the time of His absence.

Ephesus represented the condition of the Church, under the eye of Christ, at the beginning. Then there came a time when that phase in the Church's history passed away and was succeeded by Smyrna which in turn, characterized the whole Church. Smyrna was succeeded by Pergamos, and finally Pergamos was succeeded by Thyatira. It is, however, important to see that Thyatira is not succeeded by any other assembly. The fact of the Lord's coming being mentioned in Thyatira shows that this phase of the Church's history continues to the end. It is the last of the successive assemblies; that is to say, it is the last assembly that is viewed as holding an ecclesiastical position representative of the whole Church. The last three assemblies are not viewed in this way. So, we may say the beginning of the Church's history in responsibility is presented in Ephesus and the end is reached in Thyatira; the last three assemblies presenting particular phases of the end.

Thyatira assumes an ecclesiastical position and is marked by the grossest corruption. Sardis represents a movement in which there is the correction of abuses, but which leads to lifeless formalism. Laodicea represents a still later movement marked by indifference to Christ and self-sufficiency. 

Confining now our thoughts to Philadelphia, we are at once faced with the notable fact that in spite of the last days being marked by the corruption of Rome, the lifeless formality of Protestantism, and the indifference and self-sufficiency of Modernism, there will be found upon the earth those who have the approval of the Lord.

We do well to remember that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,"; at the same time there are certain portions which give the people of God positive instruction, in the mind of the Lord, for the last days. Of these Scriptures, the Second Epistle of Timothy and the address to Philadelphia have a pre-eminent place. In Second Timothy the Apostle Paul gives us definite instructions how to act when the House of God has become likened to a great house in which there are vessels to honour and to dishonour. 

Apparently, however, it was not revealed to Paul that in the last days of the Church's history there would be a Church revival. This great fact was revealed to the Apostle John in the address to Philadelphia, wherein we have clearly set forth a special movement of the Spirit of God, in the end of the Church's history, bringing about a Church revival which has the Lord's approval and therefore is according to His mind.

Having then the instruction of Second Timothy and the addresses to the seven assemblies, it is possible for us to know exactly what the Lord condemns and, of yet greater importance, to know by the address to Philadelphia, what the Lord approves in these last days. Hence, however great the confusion of Christendom, there can be no excuse for the people of God to drift in aimless confusion, groping for light "amidst the encircling gloom," each seeking to find his way as best he can, without any certainty as to the mind of the Lord. Alas! as the result of listening to the many voices of men, this confused state of mind is only too common. If, however, we have an ear to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, we shall learn what is according to the mind of the Lord. Then knowing His mind, the one who loves the Lord will seek to answer to His mind without assuming to have done so.

It is then of the first importance to see the true character of the Church revival in Philadelphia. It is not a revival of the Church in its ecclesiastical position: it is a revival of the Church morally. Thyatira represents the Church ecclesiastically, but with almost every moral trait of the Church lacking, and hence, in the eye of Christ, is utterly corrupt. Philadelphia, on the other hand, assumes no ecclesiastical position, but is marked by the great moral characteristics of the Church, and hence has the approval of Christ. This by no means infers that those who are right morally are indifferent to corporate or assembly responsibility. Such will indeed be jealous of every Church principle, while refusing the assumption of being the Church.

In Philadelphia there is no attempt to reform that which has become corrupt in Thyatira, nor to revive that which has become lifeless in Sardis, but there is a return to the great spiritual features of the Church as in the beginning. In this sense, Philadelphia represents a Church revival.

What then, we may enquire, are the great spiritual features of the Church? This raises another important question: For what purpose was the Church left on earth? There is surely only one answer. It was left here to witness for Christ during the time of His absence. It is God's great thought that, though Christ has been rejected and has gone from earth to heaven, yet there should be a company of people left behind on earth in whom the character of Christ should be continued so that, though Christ is personally gone, He should still be seen in His people. 

Now the whole value of the Philadelphian assembly lies in this fact that, in the end of the Church's history, they express something of the character, the path and the strangership of Christ, and thus return to the spiritual features of the Church as at the beginning. They take their character from the One who is the Holy and the True; a door is set before them that no man can shut; they move in circumstances of outward weakness; they keep Christ's Word; they do not deny His Name; they are opposed by those who claim an hereditary and official religious position; they are loved by Christ; they keep the word of His patience and thus wear a stranger's and pilgrim character while waiting for His coming in glory.

What, however, is all this but Christ — His character and path of strangership — reproduced in His people? God is the Holy and the True, and Christ was in this world, the perfect expression of all that God is, in circumstances that were ever marked by outward weakness. The manger and the inn, the lonely path, the upper room, the cross and the borrowed grave, all speak of the outward weakness in which the Son of God passed through the world. He also met the constant opposition of those who claimed to be the hereditary people of God. But in spite of every circumstance of weakness and in the face of all opposition, to Him the porter opened a door which no man could shut. They sought to cast Him down from the brow of the hill, they took up stones to cast at Him, they sought to entangle Him in His talk, and they took counsel to destroy Him, but all in vain. 

God had opened a door that men and demons combined could not shut. In circumstances of weakness and in the presence of continued opposition, He perfectly expressed all that God is as the Holy and the True; He kept the Father's word, declared the Father's Name and received the Father's approval. In the midst of the ruin of the Jewish dispensation, the Father could look down upon Him and say, "This is My beloved Son in whom is My delight." He refused to interfere in the course of this world — it was the hour of His patience and no one took His crown, for He passed from the place of weakness to the place of power at the right hand of God where faith delights to see Him crowned with glory and honour.

Such was the path of Christ on earth. We repeat the whole value of Philadelphia lies in the fact that, in the midst of the ruin of Christendom, God can look down and see something of the character of Christ displayed in a little remnant, and therein a return to His original intention in the Church. This meets with the unqualified approval of the Lord.

Earnestly desiring to answer to that which meets with His approval, we may well enquire: How was the condition that the Lord approves in Philadelphia brought about? For whatever brought about a return to the spiritual features of the assembly in their case can accomplish a like result in the Lord's people today. Is not the return to the Church morally entirely brought about by the appreciation of Christ in the way that He presents Himself to the Philadelphians? 


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