Apocalypse

The Lord had given the Apostolic Church the special gift of prophecy, by which ordinary Christians as well as the apostles were able to predict future events. Prophetical passages are found in a number of books of the New Testament, for instance, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10; 1 Timothy 4:1-3. But the prophecy of the last book of the Bible belongs to that special form of foretelling future events which is known as apocalypsis, in which the future is unveiled to the eyes of the seer in the form of visions or pictures. Thus we have here a symbolic history of the fortunes of the Church from the first century to the end of time. “In a series of vivid pictures John was shown how the Church would develop, pass through dreadful conflicts with the wicked powers of earth and hell, and ultimately gain the victory.”

Author and date

The author of the book calls himself God’s servant John, Revelation 1:1, without assuming the designation of apostle. But since he wrote to seven congregations of Asia Minor, and, moreover, writes as one having unusual authority, there is no reason to question the tradition that it was the Apostle John who received the revelation from the Lord and embodied it in this book. He was at that time an exile on the island of Patmos in the Southeastern Aegean Sea, off the coast of Asia Minor, having been banished to this mountainous, barren, and lonely spot “for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus,” Revelation 1:9. It was on the Lord’s Day, on a Sunday, that John was granted these visions, his mind, through the influence of God, being in a peculiarly detached condition, making it possible for him to visit remote places in spirit while his body was on Patmos. The banishment of John probably took place during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, and the book was written in the nineties of the first century.

Recipients

The Book of Revelation was written to the seven congregations of Asia Minor, which are named, Revelation 1:11. It was designed to meet an immediate need on the part of those to whom it was addressed, but, like the other books of the New Testament, it serves for consolation to the children of God in the manifold trials and tribulations which are the lot of the believers in Christ until the end of time. “The prophecy of the ultimate triumph of the kingdom of God over all hostile forces of earth and hell, the promise of the coming of Christ, the pictures of heaven with its glory and joys, have been a source of cheer, comfort, and courage to millions of Christians.”

Contents

Although the book may be divided in various ways, the following outline will serve for orientation. After the introduction we may distinguish seven visions. The first vision shows us Christ as the Ruler of His Church, governing the believers by means of His Word. In the second vision we see Him as King of the universe, who controls and directs even the evil for the benefit of His Church. In the third vision, Christ appears as the High Priest of His Church, permitting no false spirits to overcome its power. The fourth vision pictures Christ’s fight with the dragon, the power of the godless world, and with Antichrist. The fifth vision shows the avenging judgment of God upon the enemies up to the time that the elect strike up the song of triumph. The sixth vision shows Christ as the Master of the dragon, the latter being finally thrown into the bottomless pit. The seventh vision paints a comforting picture of the perfection of the Kingdom of Glory in the heavenly Jerusalem. The book concludes with the appealing cry: “Even so, come, Lord, Jesus!”

Prophecy

There are many kinds of prophecy in the Church. One is prophecy which interprets the writings of the prophets. Paul speaks of it in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14, and in other places. This is the most necessary kind and we must have it every day, because it teaches the Word of God, lays the foundation of the Church, and defends the faith; in a word, it rules, preserves, establishes and administers the preaching-office.

Another kind foretells things to come which are not previously contained in Scripture, and this prophecy is of three sorts. The first does it in express words, without symbols and figures. So Moses, David, and more of the prophets prophesy of Christ, and Christ and the apostles prophesy of Antichrist, false teachers, etc. The second sort does this with symbols, but sets alongside them their interpretation in express words. So Joseph interprets dreams and Daniel both dreams and symbols. The third sort of prophecy does it without either words or interpretations, like this book of Revelation and like the dreams, visions and symbols that many holy people have from the Holy Spirit. So in Acts 2:17, Peter proclaims, out of Joel 2:28, “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your youths shall see visions, and your elders dream dreams.” So long as this kind of prophecy remains without explanation and gets no sure interpretation, it is a concealed and dumb prophecy, and has not yet come to the profit and fruit which it is to give to Christendom.

This is the way it has been with this book heretofore. Many have tried their hands at it, but until this very day they have reached no certainty; and some have brewed into it many stupid things out of their own heads. Because its interpretation is uncertain and its meaning hidden, we, too, have let it alone hitherto, especially since some of the ancient Fathers held the opinion that it was not the work of St. John, the Apostle, as is found in the Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapter 25. This question we, for our part, still leave open, so that no one may be compelled to hold it for the work of St. John, the Apostle, or of whomever else he will. Since, however, we would gladly be certain of its meaning, or interpretation, we will give other, and higher, minds something to think about, and also state our own ideas.

Since it is intended as a revelation of things that are to happen in the future, and especially of tribulations and disasters for the Church, we consider that the first and surest step toward finding its interpretation is to take from history the events and disasters that have come upon the Church before now and hold them up alongside of these pictures and so compare them with the words. If, then, the two were to fit and agree with each other, we could build on that, as a sure, or at least an unobjectionable interpretation.

Chapters 1-3

Accordingly we hold — as, indeed, the text itself says, — that the first three chapters, which speak of the seven congregations in Asia and their angels, have no other purpose than simply to show how these congregations arose at the time, and how they are exhorted to abide and increase, or reform. We learn, besides, that the word “angel” is to be understood later on, in other pictures or visions, to mean bishops and teachers in the Church, — some good, like the holy Fathers and bishops; some bad, like the heretics and false bishops; and in this book there are more of the latter than of the former.

Chapters 4-5

In chapters 4 and 5, there is a picture of the whole Church that is to suffer these future tribulations and plagues. There are four and twenty elders before God (that is, all the bishops and teachers in harmony); they are crowned with faith, and praise Christ, the Lamb of God, with harps (i.e. they preach) and worship Him with censers (i.e. practice themselves in prayer). All this is for the comfort of Christians, that they may know that the Church is to abide, in the plagues that are to come.

Chapter 6

In Revelation 6:1, the future tribulations begin. First come the bodily tribulations, such as persecution by the temporal, government, which is the rider with the bow, upon the white horse; then war and bloodshed, which is the rider with the sword, on the red horse; then scarcity and famine, which is the rider with the scales, on the black horse; then pestilence and the plague, who is the rider like death, upon the pale horse. For these four tribulations always surely follow the ungrateful and the despisers of God’s Word, together with others, such as the overthrow and the changing of governments, all the way down to the Last Day; as is shown in Revelation 6:10; and the souls of the martyrs also work for this, with their crying.

Chapters 7-8

In Revelation 7:2 and 8, begins the revelation of the spiritual tribulations, i.e. all kinds of heresies. This is preceded again by a comforting picture, wherein the angel seals the Christians and keeps off the four bad angels; so that once more it is certain that, even under heretics, the Church will have good angels and the pure Word, as the angel shows with his censer, i.e. with prayer. These good angels are the holy Fathers, like Spiridion, Athanasius, Hilary, the Nicene Council, etc.

The first bad angel is Tatian, with his Enchratites, who forbade marriage and wanted to become righteous by their works, like the Jews.

For the doctrine of works righteousness had to be the first doctrine against the Gospel, and it also remains the last, except that it is always getting new teachers and new names, such as the Pelagians, etc.

The second is Marcion, with his Cataphrygians, Manichaeans, Montanists, etc., who boast their spirits above all the Scriptures and move, like this burning mountain, between heaven and earth, as do, in our day, Munzer and the fanatics.

The third is Origen, who embittered and corrupted the Scriptures with philosophy and reason, as the universities have hitherto done among us.

The fourth is Novatus, with his Cathari, who denied penance, and wanted to be purer than others. Of this sort, too, were, afterwards, the Donatists. Our clergy, however, are all four at once. The scholars, who know history, will know how to reckon this out; for it would take too long to tell it all and prove it.

Chapters 9-10

In chapters 9 and 10 the real misery begins, for these earlier bodily and spiritual tribulations are almost a jest compared with the plagues that are to come. At the end of Revelation 8:13, the angel himself announces that three woes are to come, and these woes are to be inflicted by the other three angels — the fifth, sixth, and seventh — and then the world is to end.

Here both kinds of persecution, the bodily and the spiritual come together, and there are to be three of them — the first great, the second greater, the third the greatest of all.

Now the first woe, the fifth angel, is Arius, the great heretic, and his companions, who plagued the Church so terribly everywhere that the text here says that righteous people would rather have died than see such things; but they had to see them and not die. Indeed, he says that the angel from hell, called the Destroyer, is their king; as if to say that the devil himself rides them. For they persecuted the true Christians, not only spiritually, but physically, with the sword. Read the history of the Arians, and you will understand this figure and these words.

The second woe is the sixth angel, the shameful Mohammed, with his companions, the Saracens, who inflicted a great plague on the Church, with their doctrines and with the sword. Along with this angel, in order that this woe may be all the greater, comes the strong angel with the rainbow: and the bitter book, that is the holy papacy, with its great spiritual show, the masses. They lay hold upon the temple with their laws, throw out the choir and start a sham church, or outward holy place.

Chapters 11-12

In chapters 11 and 12, two comforting pictures are put between these evil woes and plagues; one the picture of the two preachers and the other of the pregnant woman, who bears a man-child, despite the dragon. They indicate that some pious teachers and Christians are to continue, under the first two woes and under the third, which is yet to come. And now the last two woes run together, and make a last combined attack upon the Church, and so, at last, the devil knocks the bottom out of the cask.

Chapter 13

Then comes, in chapter 13 (in answer to the trumpets of the last of the seven angels, who sounds at the beginning of chapter 12), this seventh angel’s work, the third woe, viz., the papal empire and the imperial papacy.

Here the papacy gets the temporal sword also into its power, and rules not only with the book, in the second woe, but also with the sword, in the third woe; for they boast that the pope has both the spiritual and the temporal sword in his power.

Here, then, are the two beasts; the one is the empire, the other, with the two horns, the papacy, which has now become a temporal kingdom, yet with the reputation and name of Christ. For the pope restored the fallen Roman Empire and conveyed from the Greek to the Germans, and it is an image of the Roman Empire rather than the body of the empire, as it once was. Nevertheless, he puts spirit and life into this image, so that it has its classes and laws and members and offices, and actually operates to some extent. This is the image that was wounded and did live.

The abominations, woes, and injuries which this imperial papacy has wrought, cannot now be told. For, in the first place, by means of his book, the world has been filled with all kinds of idolatry — monasteries, foundations, saints, pilgrimages, purgatory, indulgence, celibacy and innumerable other creations of human doctrine and works. In the second place, who can tell how much bloodshed, slaughter, war, and misery the popes have wrought, both by fighting themselves and stirring up the emperors, kings and princes against one another.

Here, now, the devil’s final wrath gets to work; there, in the East, the second woe, Mohammed and the Saracens; here, in the West, papacy and empire, with the third woe. To these is added, for good measure, the Turk, Gog and Magog, as will follow in chapter 20. Thus the Church is plagued most terribly and miserably, everywhere and on all sides, with false doctrines and with wars, with book and sword. That is the dregs, the final plague; after it come almost nothing else than pictures of comfort, telling of the end of all these woes and abominations.

Chapter 14

In chapter 14, Christ first begins to slay His Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, and the angel with the Gospel comes against the bitter book of the strong angel. The saints and virgins stand again about the Lamb, and preach the truth. Upon this Gospel follows the second angel’s voice, saying that the city of Babylon shall fall and the spiritual papacy be destroyed.

It follows, farther, that the harvest shall come, and those who cleave to the papacy against the Gospel shall be cast outside the city of Christ, into the wine-press of God’s wrath; i.e., by the Gospel they are separated from the Church and condemned to God’s wrath. They are many, and the winepress yields much blood. Or, perhaps, this may be a just punishment and judgment upon our sins, which are beyond measure and overripe.

Chapters 15-16

After this, in chapters 15 and 16, come the seven angels with the seven bowls. The Gospel increases, and attacks the papacy on all sides by means of many learned and pious preachers, and the throne of the beast, the pope’s power, becomes dark and wretched and despised. But they grow wroth and confidently defend themselves; for three frogs, three unclean spirits go forth from the mouth of the beast and stir up kings and princes against the Gospel. But it does not help; the battle takes place at Armageddon. The frogs are the sophists, like Faber and Eck and Eraser. They croak much against the Gospel, but accomplish nothing, and continue to be frogs.

Chapter 17

In chapter 17, the imperial papacy and papal empire is included, from beginning to end, in a single picture, and it is shown, as in a summing up, how it is nothing, — for the ancient Roman Empire is long since gone; and yet exists, — for some of its lands, and the city of Rome besides, are still here. This picture is presented here as one presents a malefactor publicly before a court, so that he may be condemned. It is to be known that this beast, too, is shortly to be damned, and “brought to naught by the manifestation of the Lord’s coming,” as St. Paul says, in 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

Chapter 18

In chapter 18, this destruction begins and the glorious great splendor comes to naught, and the courtesans, who rob the endowments and steal the livings, cease to be; for even Rome must be plundered and stormed by its own protector at the beginning of the final destruction.

Chapter 19

Yet they do not leave off; they seek around, they encourage and arm and defend themselves. As he says here, in chapter 19, when they can do nothing more with the Scriptures and with books, and the frogs have croaked their last, they take hold in earnest, try to win by force, and gather kings and princes for battle. But they are disappointed; the one on the white horse wins, until both beast and prophet are seized and cast into hell.

Chapter 20

While all this is happening, there comes, in Revelation 20:7, the stirrup cup Gog and Magog, the Turks, the red Jews, whom Satan, who has been bound for a thousand years and, after the thousand years, is loose again, brings up; but they are soon to go with him into the lake of fire. For it is our opinion that this picture, which is separate from the preceding, has been put in because of the Turks, and that the thousand years are to begin at the time when this book was written, and that at that time the devil was bound; though the reckoning need not hold out to the very minute. After the Turks, the Last Judgment follows quickly, at the end of this chapter, as Daniel 7:7 also shows.

Chapters 21-22

At last, in chapter 21, the final comfort is depicted. The holy city is completely ready and is led as a bride to the eternal marriage; Christ alone is Lord and all the godless are damned and go, with the devil, into hell.

With this interpretation we can profit by this book and make good use of it. First, for our comfort! We can know that neither force nor lies, neither wisdom nor holiness, neither tribulation nor suffering shall suppress the Church, but it will gain the victory and overcome at last.

Second, for our warning against the great and perilous and manifold offense that is to come upon the Church; for because these mighty and imposing powers are to fight against the Church, and it is to be deprived of outward shape and covered up under so many tribulations and heresies and other faults, it is impossible for the natural reason to recognize the Church. On the contrary, it falls away and takes offense, and calls that the Christian Church which is really the Christian Church’s worst enemy. On the other hand it calls them damned heretics who are really the true Christian Church. This has happened before now under the papacy, and Mohammed, and all other heretics. Thus they lose the article of the Creed, “I believe one holy, Christian Church.”

Some of the wiseacres are doing just that now; they see heresy and dissension and short-comings of many kinds, they see that there are many false, many ill-living Christians; and so they decide off-hand that there are no Christians. They have heard that Christians are to be a holy, peaceful, united, kindly, virtuous folk. Accordingly, they think that there should be among them no offenses, no heresy, no short-comings, but only peace and virtue. They ought to read this book and learn to look upon the Church with other eyes than those of reason.

For this book, I think, shows enough of terrible and monstrous beasts, horrible and vindictive angels, wild and awful plagues. I shall not speak of the other great faults and weaknesses that have always been in the Church and among the Christians, so that the reason has had to lose the Church among such things. Here we see clearly what cruel offenses and shortcomings there have been before our times, and one might think that the Church was now at its best, and that our time is a golden age compared with those that have gone before. Do you not think that the heathen also took offense at these things and held the Christians for self-willed, loose, contentious people?

This article, “I believe one holy, Christian Church,” is an article of faith, as well as the rest. The reason, therefore, cannot recognize it, though it puts all its glasses on. The devil can cover it over with offenses and tumults, so that you have to take offense at it. God, too, can hide it with faults and short- comings of all kinds, so that you become a fool and pass such judgment on it. It will not be known by sight, but by faith, and faith concerns the things we do not see; (Hebrews 11:1); and the Church joins with her Lord in the song, “Blessed is he that takes no offense in me.” (Matthew 11:6). A Christian, too, is hidden from himself; he does not see his holiness and virtue, but sees in himself only lack of virtue and of holiness; and you, dull wise man, would behold the Church with your blind reason and your unclean eyes!

In a word, our holiness is in heaven, and not in the world, before men’s eyes, like goods in the market. Therefore, let there be offenses and tumults and heresy and faults, and let them do what they can! If only the word of the Gospel remains pure among us, and we love and cherish it, we are not to doubt that Christ is with us, even when things are at their worst; for we see, in this book, that, through and above all plagues and beasts and bad angels, Christ is with His saints, and wins the victory at last.

Verses 1-20

The mystery of the seven stars and the seven candlesticks

The superscription:

From the beginning the author claims for his book divine authorship: The apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show His servants what is bound to happen soon; and He sent and signified it through His angel to His servant John. Ordinarily the future is hidden from the eyes of men; the knowledge of events that are yet to transpire is a matter of God’s foreknowledge. But as He did in other cases, so He here made a revelation, a disclosure; He drew aside the veil which hides the mysteries of the future from the eyes of the believers. It was a revelation on the part of Jesus Christ, which had been communicated to the Son by the Father, the only-begotten Son of God thus again acting as a messenger and prophet in making known to men the truth of God. This message was directed to the servants of the Lord, to the Christians, and its contents consisted in the relation of certain events which were bound to happen soon according to the will and knowledge of God, happenings of great importance in the history of the Church. In thus uncovering the future, the Lord sent His message through an angel, one of the spirits whose work consists in serving Him, in carrying out His commands. He signified, or revealed, it to John in visions, not in express words and exact language, but in pictures, whose significance is, to some extent, explained.

In this manner the message was to be brought to men: Who bore witness of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, what he saw. John was the instrument or means in spreading the message which he had received. The content of his testimony was the Word of God, the Word which came from God and spoke of God, and the witness of Jesus Christ the Savior. The entire apostolic doctrine is this message of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, in whom He revealed Himself. But in this book John embodied those special truths of the Gospel which he saw in the visions which were vouchsafed to him in such a miraculous manner.

Of the readers he says in a very general manner: Blessed he that reads and they that hear the word of the prophecy and hold firmly to that which is written in it; for the time is near. This is the first of the seven beatitudes in the Book of Revelation, and is purposely set at the head of the book as a whole. Not all the Christians of those days were able to read, since many of them were slaves. Therefore both he that read the words of this message to others and they that listened to, and heeded, its contents are called blessed. For it is not enough to read and hear the prophecy, the Word of the Lord, in a mere mechanical manner, for it is not mere prediction that we are concerned with in these pages, but religious truth and instruction in the way of salvation. It requires a careful and firm keeping, an observing of its injunctions, a relying upon its comforting promises in steadfast faith, Luke 11:28. This attitude is required all the more strongly since “the time” is near, we are living in God’s last hour of the world. As Luther says, this is no time for being slothful and sleeping. Prayerful vigilance must characterize the Christians in these last days of sore distress.

The prolog:

This paragraph strikes the keynote of the entire book, its sentences moving forward with majestic grandeur. This is evident even in the salutation: John to the seven congregations that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him that is and that was and that is coming, and from the seven Spirits that are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the First-born of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. The effect of this greeting is overwhelming in its stateliness and beauty. John is addressing the seven congregations in the province of Asia, the seven principal stations where the Word of God had taken hold, congregations whose conditions permit us to form a picture of the circumstances of the Church of Christ until the end of time. The greeting comprises the summary of the Gospel: grace, the free favor and love which the sinner has in the message of redemption, through the mercy of the Father, through the atonement of the Son, through the sanctification of the Spirit; peace, the effect of grace, which follows the reconciliation of the sinner with God, Romans 5:1, the peace of God which passes all understanding. This is the blessing of Jehovah, of Him that is from everlasting to everlasting, that was before the mountains were brought forth, that is coming soon to judge the world in righteousness, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. When Christ comes for the final redemption of His own, to sit in judgment upon His enemies, He will reveal Himself as the One that was from the beginning, the same throughout the eternities. The great spiritual blessings are also from the seven Spirits before the throne of grace, from the sevenfold Spirit: the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of wisdom and of knowledge, of grace and prayer, of strength and of power, of sanctification and the fear of God, Isaiah 11:2. The blessings are transmitted through the office of Jesus Christ, who is a faithful Witness, a Witness to the truth of the Gospel, John 3:32; 1 Peter 2:22. He sealed His message with His blood and death, but He also conquered death and rose as the First-born from the dead, 1 Corinthians 15:23. And now that He is exalted to the right hand of the divine power, He is the Prince of the rulers of the earth, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, Psalm 2.

To this exalted Christ John now addresses a doxology: To Him that loved us and loosed us from our sins with His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to God and His Father, to Him be glory and power forever and ever, Amen. The eternal love which Christ had in His heart for us has been shown by the most indubitable proof: He delivered, or loosed, us from our sins at the cost of His own life, by giving His blood as a ransom for us. Thereby He has brought us into a relationship with Him which includes glorious privileges. He has constituted us His kingdom, we are kings before Him, Exodus 19:6. At the same time we are priests to God and His Father: we have the privilege of intimate access to God as the result of Christ’s sacrificial death. We are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, a peculiar people, 1 Peter 2:9. All our enemies are conquered before us, and we are heirs of the everlasting kingdom of heaven. For this we give eternal praise, glory, and power to Him alone; that is our true priestly sacrifice.

The apostle now takes up the thought which was interrupted by the doxology: Behold, He is coming on the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those that pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will howl over Him. Yea, Amen. The mind of the prophet is here carried forward to the great day when the majesty of the Lord will appear, the great Day of Judgment. With or on the clouds He will appear, Matthew 26:64; Daniel 7:13. The eyes of all men will see Him as He comes to Judgment, and those that pierced His hands and feet and sides with nails and the lance, all the godless men of the whole earth to whom this sin is imputed by virtue of their unbelief, will behold Him returning as their Judge, for then it will be too late for repentance. All that the unbelievers can do and will do on that day will be to weep and howl because of Him, gibbering in helpless terror in anticipation of the horrible fate which they see before their eyes. That is the solemn, dreadful truth.

Now the Lord Himself is introduced as speaking: I am Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, He that is and was and is coming, the Almighty. Alpha and Omega, as the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, are designations of the beginning and the end, and are fitly used of Him and by Him who is true God with the Father from eternity, Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 48:12. Like the Father, Christ is from everlasting to everlasting, and He is the almighty God. No enemy is too mighty for Him, not even the hosts of Satan; all things are placed under His feet. That is the great comfort of the believers, the certain foundation upon which their faith rests.

John’s commission to write:

For the third time John, writing with solemn emphasis, mentions his name: I, John, your brother and companion in the tribulation and in the kingdom and in the patience in Jesus Christ, found myself on the island which is called Patmos on account of the Word of God and on account of the testimony of Jesus. John knows nothing of hierarchical aspirations; he does not even mention his special office. It is with a show of calm satisfaction that he calls himself the brother of the believers to whom he is writing, and their companion in every form of Christian experience. Cp. Philippians 1:7. All believers are partakers of the tribulations which came upon Christ; they know that they can expect nothing else in this world. But at the same time John and all believers are partakers in the kingdom of Christ, at once the most miserable in the sight of men and the most blessed in the sight of God. And therefore we share also in the patience of Christ, for tribulation, endured for the sake of Christ, works patience, Romans 15:5; Philippians 1:29; Hebrews 12:1. Thus we are enabled to persevere, to be steadfast in the midst of all the misery and distress and afflictions of this life. — John says that he found himself, that he was, on the island called Patmos, banished from Ephesus by an imperial decree. But it was not as a criminal that he was suffering the due punishment of any crime. He was there for the sake of the Word of God, which he had preached so fearlessly, because of his testimony of Jesus Christ, whom he confessed so willingly. It was a form of martyrdom which John suffered in his exile.

John now describes the manner in which he first received the revelation of the Lord: I found myself in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest write into a book, and send it to the seven congregations: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. It was on the Lord’s day, on a Sunday, that this revelation was vouchsafed to John, probably while he was busy with his special Sunday devotions. The entire book, as one commentator remarks, makes the impression that it belongs to Sunday; there is something of a holiday, something festive about it. John found himself in the spirit, in that peculiar ecstasy which detached the mind from the body, as it commonly attended special prophetic revelation, Ezekiel 37:1; Daniel 10; 2 Corinthians 12:1-7 ^■962 . While he was in this state, it seemed to him that the sound of a great trumpet came from behind him, the voice in the sound commissioning him to put the description of the visions which he would see down on paper and send the book to the seven principal congregations of proconsular Asia. Ephesus was the most important city of this district, on the Caystrian Gulf, in Lydia. Smyrna was about forty miles north of Ephesus, on the Smyrnean Gulf; it has grown in importance steadily and is now the largest city on the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea. Pergamos, or Pergamum, about sixty miles northeast of Smyrna, in Mysia, was the capital of a former small, but wealthy kingdom, noted for its splendid library. Thyatira was a city in Lydia, on the road from Pergamos to Sardis, a prosperous manufacturing town. Sardis, thirty miles south of Thyatira, was the ancient capital of Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia, whose empire was overthrown by Cyrus the Great. Philadelphia, about twenty-five miles southeast of Sardis, also in Lydia, was the center of a rich farming region. Laodicea, finally, the capital of Phrygia, some fifty miles from Philadelphia, was noted for its prosperity, a fact which caused it to be very independent. Note that the order of the names is that of a circuit, such as one would make in starting from Ephesus and traveling clockwise ^■963 .

The vision of the Son of Man:

John records, first of all, what impression the voice made upon him: And I turned around to see the voice which spoke with me. Not from mere curiosity, but compelled by the power from above, which is apparent throughout the visions, John turned around to see whose was the voice that spoke to him. The expression is purposely given in an odd form, to concentrate the attention upon the voice, the word of Christ.

John now describes what he saw: And having turned around, I saw seven golden lamp-stands, and in the midst of the lamp-stands one similar to a Son of Man clothed in a long robe and girded across his breast with a golden belt. The prophet saw, not a single candlestick with seven lamps, Exodus 25:37; Zechariah 4:2,10, but seven individual cressets, or lamp-stands. The time of the Jewish Church was past, and therefore its symbol was no longer in use. Seven lamps, representing seven congregations, are mentioned, since these do not comprise the Church, but the entire Church is reflected in them. In the midst of the cressets stood He that was like a Son of Man, Daniel 7:13. The congregations are inseparable from their Head and Center Jesus, who abides and moves among the cressets of His temple with the dignity and authority of a high priest. This is indicated by the long robe reaching to the feet, which was a mark of dignity in the Orient, cp. Isaiah 6:1, as well as by the golden girdle about the breast, which showed the flowing garment to the best advantage and added to the majesty of the wearer. Note that Christ is described as being similar to a man; He possesses a true human nature, but with this is combined the majesty of His eternal Godhead, which elevates Him far above a mere human being. He is both our High Priest and our King.

The description continues: His head and hair were white as wool, white as snow, and His eyes were like a flame of fire, and His feet were like burnished bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the voice of many waters. Cp. Daniel 7:9. Just as in the Old Testament prophecy the Ancient of Days, the Father, is pictured with white hair, so Christ here, by the same token, is shown to be the everlasting God, Isaiah 9:6. The eyes like flaming fire signify the combination of burning zeal and of holy omniscience in one whose essence abhors sinfulness and impurity in every form. The word which is translated “brass” designates an alloy of metals which seems to have been very much like our bronze. His feet were like this metal as it glowed and melted in the intense heat of the furnace. Where He goes, He spreads terror in the ways of those that have rejected Him; He is like a consuming fire to the unbelievers. His voice was like the mighty rushing of many waters, Daniel 10:6, which threatens the enemies of the Church and hinders them in their designs against the saints of the Lord.

The apostle finally writes: And having in His right hand seven stars, and a two-edged sharp sword projecting out of His mouth, and His appearance as the sun shines in his strength. The seven stars are the angels, or ministers, of the seven congregations, Revelation 1:20. These He holds in His right hand, to indicate that they belong to Him, that He holds and protects them by His almighty power, John 10:28. The sharp, two-edged sword going forth from the mouth of the Lord is His Word, the breath of His mouth, Hebrews 4:12, powerful to overcome all the godless and adversaries, Isaiah 49:2; Isaiah 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8. His entire appearance, the impression which John received from the whole vision, was that of a form surrounded with rays of the strongest sun-light, emanating a splendor greater than that of the sun at midday, penetrating through fog and clouds. The believers receive light and power from Him, but the unbelievers shrink and shrivel and wither before the power of His holy gaze.

Christ commands John to write:

The first and immediate effect of the vision upon John: And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet like dead, and He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the First and the Last and the Living One; and I was dead, and, behold, I am alive forever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell. That is the first effect of the majestic appearance of the Lord: deadly terror and fear. Sinful man cannot endure the splendor and the purity of the holy God, Genesis 16:7-14 ^■964 ; Isaiah 6:5. But at the same time there is wonderful comfort in the appearance of the Lord in this vision, since it is impossible for His enemies to stand in His sight. For that reason the Lord laid His hand upon John with an assurance of wonderful consolation. The precious Gospel-call “Fear not” was intended to take all the fear out of his heart and to fill him with trust and confidence. What is true of the Lord Jehovah, Isaiah 44:6, is true also of Christ: He is the First and the Last, He is from everlasting to everlasting, the Refuge and the Strength of all believers until the end of time. He is the Living One, John 5:21,26. He is the Resurrection and the Life; he that believes in Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and he that lives and believes in Him shall never die, John 11:25-26. Christ was dead, He did truly lay down His life in death for the guilt of mankind, but His last cry on the cross, with which He commended His spirit into the hands of His heavenly Father, was a cry of victory, John 10:18; Romans 6:9-10. By His victory over death and hell Christ is the Living One from eternity to eternity, also according to His human nature. And He has the keys of death and hell, unlimited power to save and to condemn. Those that accept Him in true faith as the Savior of the world will receive at His hands eternal life with all the unspeakable bliss that this implies; those that reject His atonement will receive the sentence of everlasting death and damnation. Sublime majesty and power is evident in every word spoken by the Lord.

Clothed with this authority, He now commands: Write what thou sawest, and what is and what is destined to happen after this, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest on My right hand, and the seven golden lamp-stands. The contents of the entire series of visions concerning both the present and the future John was to embody in a book. The matters of the present time were especially those which were spoken of in the seven letters to the Asiatic churches. The Lord wanted to explain to John what He meant by the seven stars, Revelation 1:16, and by the seven lamp-stands, or cressets, Revelation 1:12; He had a message for His Christians at that time and for all subsequent ages. He Himself explains: The seven stars are angels of the seven congregations, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven congregations. The angels are the ministers of the Lord, the pastors of the congregations, called stars on account of their proclamation of the heavenly doctrine, Malachi 2:7; Daniel 12:3. And the congregations are golden cressets, or lamp-stands, through Christ, who gives them the true value and ornament, and through His Gospel, which is the light in them. This light should shine forth from the individual Christians as well as from the entire congregations, both in Christian confession and in Christian conduct, these two being the chief glory of the Church on earth.

Summary

The prophet introduces the book of his visions with a superscription, a prolog, and with an account of his commission to write, as given him by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as the great High Priest of the New Testament.

Verses 1-29

The pastoral letters to the congregations at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira

The letter to the congregation at Ephesus:

The seven open pastoral letters which are included in the Book of Revelation all have the same outline: the command to write, supported by some description of the person and office of Christ; the body of the letter with a testimony concerning the state of the congregation, an admonition to repentance or steadfastness, and a prophecy of the future; a promise to the conquering believers.

The congregation at Ephesus had been founded by the Apostle Paul, Acts 18:19, who worked there for three years, and very successfully, in spite of many difficulties, Acts 20:31; 1 Corinthians 15:32; 1 Corinthians 16:9. Subsequently Aquila and Priscilla, Apollos, and Timothy, were active in the congregation at Ephesus, Acts 18:18,24; 1 Timothy 1:2-3. Since the death of Paul, and probably also that of Timothy, St. John had resided at Ephesus, if the historical account in this case may be relied upon. What Paul had foretold in regard to this congregation, Acts 20:17-29, had come to pass. Therefore the Lord of the Church Himself dictated this letter to John: To the angel of the congregation in Ephesus write: These things says He that holds the seven stars in His right hand, that walks about in the midst of the seven golden lamp-stands. The letter is addressed to the pastor of the congregation, for he has the first responsibility for the souls in his pastoral care; he is to watch over both doctrine and life. It is the Lord of the Church that is speaking, He that holds the pastors of the seven congregations in His protecting hand, He that not only stands in the midst of the cressets, but walks about among them. He is ever watchful, continually active in behalf of every Christian congregation. He wants the Christian congregations to shine as lights in this world of sinful darkness, but He knows also that they require constant replenishing and care, and He is willing to be of assistance to them, lest their light flicker and fade.

The Lord’s first remarks are words of commendation: I know thy works and hard labor and thy endurance, and that thou canst not bear wicked men, and hast put to a test those that claim to be apostles and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast endurance and hast borne up for My name’s sake, and hast not grown weary. Nothing escapes the notice of the omniscient Lord, nothing is hidden from His interested search. He knew the works of faith that were performed in the midst of the Ephesine congregation, the hard labor done by those that were active in the ministry and in the many works of charity, the enduring patience toward the weak brethren within and the perils from without. Cp. 1 Timothy 3:1; 1 Timothy 5:17. There was also careful vigilance in the congregation at Ephesus, a holy zeal for the truth which would not permit obviously wicked men to remain members. Men that claimed to be apostles and to be the bearers of new revelations were put to a severe test and their deceit and falsehood exposed. The Christians of Ephesus were noted for the fact that they suffered and bore and persevered in the midst of the severest afflictions, taking up their cross and following after the Lord without complaint. They showed true Christian endurance and hopeful patience. All the disgrace heaped upon them, all the persecution on the part of the world, was not able to take away the courage of their faith. For the sake of the name of Christ which they bore they remained faithful; they did not grow faint and weary. Mark: True Christian conduct, faithfulness in the service of the Lord, proper brotherly discipline, firm adherence to the pure doctrine, patience and perseverance in the midst of enmity and tribulation: all these should be distinctive signs of every Christian congregation.

A rebuke and a warning: But I have against thee that thou hast left the first love. It is a sad “but” that introduces such a reprimand. In spite of the many praiseworthy factors in the congregation at Ephesus this sad state of affairs existed, that they had left the first fire and zeal for the Truth, for the Word of the Gospel, for the honor of the Lord which had been so prominent in the early days of the church. They were no longer filled with that bliss which is the essence of the believer’s first experience of the love of God; the eyelids of their spirit had grown heavy, they were in danger of falling asleep, Matthew 25:5. It was the same experience which has been undergone innumerable times since where congregations have been established for two or more generations. The Lord, therefore, calls out: Remember, then, whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to thee, and I shall remove thy lamp-stand from its place, if thou dost not repent. The congregation at Ephesus should have remained on the heights of the first love and grown ever stronger in their affection for the Lord of salvation, Song of Solomon 8:6-7. Since, now, it had fallen from this perfection, from this ideal state, there was only one way of restoring the relation between the Lord and His church, namely, by sincere repentance, by a return to the first works as they were surcharged with love for the Lord, as they were pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. Should they refuse to hear this faithful admonition, then the Lord would find Himself obliged to deal harshly with the Christians of Ephesus, by taking away the light of His Gospel from their midst. That has been the result of indifference in scores of cases, as the history of the Christian Church shows; and this warning is rendered none the less severe by the added condition that repentance is essential where the first love is no longer found in the Christian congregations.

At the same time the Lord does not withhold from the congregation at Ephesus the praise it deserved: Still, this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The Nicolaitans, named after a certain Nicolaus, whom some identify with the deacon of that name, Acts 6:5, were a sect whose members turned Christian liberty into license, practising religious sensuality and immorality, and trying to introduce many heathen customs into the Christian Church. The hatred which the congregation of Ephesus as such showed for the ways of these libertines proved that the ways of the world had not yet gained the upper hand in their midst. In this they had the emphatic approval of the Lord, who wants this hatred for heathen abominations continued by all means, since He is a jealous God and cannot bear impurity in the Church which He ransomed by His blood.

The promise of the Lord: He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I shall grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Here is a powerful appeal for close attention, addressed primarily to the Christians of Ephesus, but also to believers everywhere and at all times. Every one that has ears to hear should yield them in careful application of mind and heart to this promise of the Lord. It is the Spirit of Christ that is speaking, and the words are the words of the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 2:13. To every one that conquers or overcomes the many enemies and perils that obstruct his path in this life, to every one who through the power of faith passes successfully through life’s temptations, the Lord will grant, out of free favor and love, to eat of the fruit of the tree of life. Adam and Eve, by their transgression of God’s command, lost the earthly paradise with its tree of life, Genesis 3:24. But we Christians look forward to the heavenly paradise, in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, our Savior, in which we shall have fulness of joy and bliss unspeakable at His right hand forevermore. Christ’s relation to God guarantees His promise of such privilege, for Christ’s gift is God’s gift, Romans 6:23.

The letter to the congregation at Smyrna:

In the case of Ephesus it was internal decay that caused the pastoral letter to be written, in the case of Smyrna it was enmity and persecution from without. There is a solemn introduction also in this case: And to the angel of the congregation in Smyrna write: This says the First and the Last, who was dead and became alive. The entire message was to be transmitted to the congregation by its pastor, who is here addressed as the responsible officer. The Lord again calls Himself the First, having been before the beginning of the world, from eternity, and the Last, since He is the everlasting God. He was dead, not only in appearance, but in fact; He laid down His life for His friends and the whole world; we are reconciled to God through the death of His Son, Romans 5:10. But He did not remain in death; He became alive, by His own almighty power He restored His soul to His body. Thus He is the Source of life in those that believe in Him; by faith in Him they can scoff at death, which has lost its sting through Christ’s atoning work.

The Lord addresses words of encouragement to the Smyrnean Christians: I know thy tribulation and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy on the part of those that claim to be Jews and are not, rather the synagog of Satan. That was the cross which the congregation at Smyrna had to bear, the enmity of the Jews. This opposition on the part of the Jews did not stop with little acts of meanness and with evil speaking and slandering; it was also due to their machinations that the Christians lost their earthly goods, money and property. On various trumped-up charges the believers were robbed of all they possessed in this world; they endured the confiscation of all that their earthly labor had brought them. And yet, as the Lord tells them, they were rich, for they still had the grace of their Lord Jesus Christ; they still clung to the love of their heavenly Father; they had the riches of the divine mercy in the Gospel, 2 Corinthians 6:10. So far as the enemies of the Christians are concerned, the judgment of the Lord designates them as the synagog of Satan, for Satan is the liar from the beginning, and in his school the blasphemers are trained.

Still more encouragement is contained in the next words: Fear nothing what thou art destined to suffer. The Lord does not promise them relief or surcease from suffering. His words rather imply that further persecutions are imminent, and history shows that the next decades brought trials of various kinds to the Christians in this part of Asia Minor. And yet the Lord tells them to fear nothing, not to have the slightest apprehension as to their safety. Without His will or permission not a hair of their head could be harmed. They should be filled with the power of faith, which rests secure in the hands of the Father, no matter what the vicissitudes of life may be, Psalm 46:2-3. And this in spite of the fact that they are told: Behold, the devil will succeed in throwing some of you into prison that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. That was one form of persecution, which came from the government, but, as the Lord says, at the instigation of the devil, who hates the Word of the Gospel and makes use of the same methods to this day in order to hinder the spread of the Church. The very statement that this tribulation and test would be for only a definite time shows that the Lord will not permit them that are His to be tried beyond that they are able to endure, 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Therefore He calls out to them the golden words: Be thou faithful to death, and I shall give thee the crown of life. The very persecutions that were designed to make the Christians give up their faith served to strengthen them. The dross is burned away in the furnace of the assayer, but the gold remains. Thus the faith of the Christian is proved in the school of persecutions; for it is at such times that he has an opportunity to prove his faithfulness to his Lord. Nor will the Lord permit this faithfulness to go unrewarded. The crown of life, eternal life itself, is the reward of grace assigned to the triumph of faith, to the loyalty of the believer. Like kings and priests we shall be given wreaths, in an everlasting festival we shall live before and with our Lord in the heavenly mansions, James 1:12. This thought is repeated in a second promise: He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations: He that conquers will not suffer injury from the second death. The Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, says this to all congregations, to all believers. Every one that does overcome, that does prove himself a conqueror in the power of God, may feel the pangs of temporal death in his body, the weakness of his old sinful nature may cause him to wince and complain in sickness and to shrink back at the specter of death. But he that confesses Christ to the end, clinging to Him in true faith, will not see the second death, will not come into judgment and condemnation, but will pass through death into life. Temporal death will be to him an entrance into the everlasting homes of joy.

The letter to the congregation at Pergamos:

As in the case of the other letters, the Lord here introduces Himself by mentioning a special characteristic: And to the angel of the congregation in Pergamum write, These things says He that has the sword, two-edged, sharp. That is the way the Lord had appeared to John, Revelation 1:16, to signify the penetrating power of His Word, Hebrews 4:12. The Word of power was intended to assist the pastor of the congregation in Pergamum in his apparently difficult position. His testimony, under the circumstances, was not to lack in sharpness and penetrating strength. All pastors are to preach the Word as it is written, regardless of the fact that their proclamation is to the one a savor of life unto life and to the other a savor of death unto death, 2 Corinthians 2:16.

The Lord describes the situation as it existed in Pergamum: I know thy works and where thou dwellest, where is the throne of Satan; and thou adherest to My name, and thou hast not denied faith in Me in the days when Antipas, My witness, faithful to Me, was put to death in your midst, where Satan lives. The statements that Satan sat enthroned, had his abode, in the city of Pergamum, is probably made with reference to the idolatry practiced in that city and district. For not only was Pergamum a center of emperor-worship in Asia Minor, where the Roman emperor was given divine honor, but the worship of the heathen god Aesculapius, the god of doctors, and of Zeus Soter, the chief god of Greek mythology, was practiced there. All this was particularly repulsive to the Christian religion, which condemned all idols and their cult with absolute emphasis as inventions of Satan. Thus the Christian congregation at Pergamum was in a difficult position. The Lord, therefore, acknowledges the faithfulness of the believers in adhering to His name, to the confession of their Christian faith, under very trying conditions. Even when Antipas, or Antipater, who is said to have been the bishop of Pergamum toward the close of the century, suffered martyrdom, thus becoming the first prominent victim in the local church, they did not flinch, they did not deny or renounce the truth which they had accepted. For this stand the Lord commends them highly.

But there was cause for a severe reprimand also here: But I have a few things against thee, that thou hast there such as adhere to the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication; likewise thou hast also such as adhere to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Though the Lord had given the congregation of Pergamum high praise, the rebuke here administered had become necessary. A minority of the church had become contaminated with dangerous transgressions, and the fault of the majority was indifference. Sensualism and carnal sins were being tolerated. The Lord refers to Balaam, who, after having been thwarted in his attempt to curse the children of Israel, caused Balak, the king of the Moabites, to place a pitfall before the children of Israel by having the Moabite women seduce them to heathen worship and its attendant shameful orgies and sexual vices. It seems that certain members of the congregation at Pergamum had grown so lax that they deliberately took part in all the obscene practices of idol worship, and that they considered sexual excesses a harmless indulgence, the Nicolaitans holding this doctrine openly. Cp. Revelation 2:6. These errorists were seducing the local Christians in the same way as Balaam succeeded in getting the Israelites enticed to ruin.

The Lord’s warning call: Repent; But if not, I am coming to thee quickly and shall battle with them with the sword of My mouth. Although only a few members of the congregation were actually involved in this sinning, yet the entire church, by its tolerant attitude, had become guilty before the Lord. Not to remove the cancerous growth and not to apply remedial measures was equivalent to abetting the guilty ones. So the Lord demanded repentance of the whole congregation for the sin of laxity in Christian discipline. And should the church delay in this change of attitude, then the Lord Himself will visit them. Not with the power of the government, but with the sword of His Word He intends to battle against the evildoers. He has ways and means of awakening strong witnesses for the truth and of showing all that profess the Christian truth that He will not be mocked. Laxity in Christian discipline is always a great peril for a congregation, for not only does the entire body become guilty of the transgressions committed by a few, but the evil, if unchecked, is bound to spread, for “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”

The Lord closes this letter with a glorious promise: He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I shall give to eat of the hidden manna, and I shall give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, which no man knows except the receiver. It is again the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Power, that makes this promise, not only to the Christians of Pergamum, but to those of all times and in every place. To him that conquers and overcomes all the tribulations and perils that beset his path the Lord will give heavenly food, hidden manna, John 6:31-35, Christ Himself being that true spiritual food which meets every need of the soul. As we truly receive Christ and all His blessings through the means of grace here in time, so we shall afterward, in heaven, on the eternal Sabbath, enjoy His glory in its very fullness. There the believers shall also receive a fine white precious stone, which is a testimony of the Holy Ghost to their faith. As their names were written in the hands of God by virtue of His eternal love, so they are here inscribed on the precious stones of eternity as belonging to the heavenly Jerusalem, where they will see and enjoy their sonship of the Father through the love of Christ, world without end.

Praise and reprimand for the congregation at Thyatira:

This is the longest of the seven pastoral letters, and it shows peculiar conditions in the little city of Thyatira, the home of the pious Lydia, Acts 16:14-15. This letter also opens with a characteristic description of the author: And to the angel of the congregation in Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, He that has His eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like burnished bronze. Cp. Revelation 1:15. It is as a judge full of holy wrath, as a consuming fire, that Jesus, the Son of God, is here introduced, as one from whom His enemies may expect certain and terrible punishment.

As in the case of the other congregations the Lord opens with a commendation: I know thy works and thy love and thy faith and thy service and thy patient endurance, and thy last works more than the first. That is high praise for a Christian congregation and speaks well for the Christian zeal of Lydia, who is generally supposed to have founded this church. The congregation of Thyatira as such was noted for its diligence in works and service of love, of brotherly love. These were the natural fruits of the faith which was still held by the great majority of the brethren. Another fruit of this faith was patient endurance amidst the persecutions which were instigated on the part of the enemies. They are even given the testimony that they had made steady progress in the works of Christianity, that their profiting had been apparent to all, Galatians 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 1 Timothy 4:15.

At the same time, however, conditions were existing that caused the Lord more than apprehension: But I have against thee that thou permittest that woman Jezebel, who alleges herself to be a prophetess and teaches and seduces My servants to commit fornication and to eat meats sacrificed to idols: and I have given her time that she should repent, and she will not repent from her fornication. Apparently the conditions of Pergamum were here intensified. In the Old Testament there had been a Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, who had seduced the children of Israel to idolatry, to the service of Baal with its obscene cult, to many abominations and lewd deeds. The name Jezebel, therefore, was a fitting name for the false prophetess in Thyatira, whose chief allurement seems to have consisted in the doctrine that Christians should overcome carnal desires by yielding to the lusts of the flesh to satiety and weariness, and that they should join in all the abominations of the heathen in order to pain influence over them. The result was that many servants of the Lord, many true Christians, had been seduced to a life of idolatry, of dissipation, of immorality and sexual vices. They had been plunged into a veritable abyss of wickedness, where the most abominable works of darkness were committed with the plea that this was Christianity in an advanced state. The Lord had already sent a warning to this immoral prophetess and had given her time to repent, but she obstinately persisted in her lewd course and despised the forbearance of God. And all this the congregation permitted; knowing the pool of unspeakable filth which was in their midst, the members had done nothing to remove the stain, the blot, from the congregation.

Therefore the Lord rebukes the congregation, incidentally adding the threat: Behold, I shall cast her upon a couch (of sickness), and the adulterers with her into great misery, if they do not repent of her works; and her children I shall utterly slay, and all congregations shall know that I am He who searches reins and hearts, and I shall give to you, to every one, according to your works. Almost the Lord’s patient forbearance is exhausted, and He will then show Himself the terrible Judge. The false prophetess herself He intended to visit with sickness, with pestilence, and all those that followed her immoral teaching and became guilty of lewdness in any form He would plunge into such an abyss of misery as to make them feel the power of His wrath. Note: In the very midst of this terrible threat the Lord holds out full amnesty to the sinners if they but repent. Physical distress and illness were not to come upon the men and women only that imitated the prophetess in her licentiousness, but her sin was to be visited also upon her children, whom the Lord threatened to exterminate. Thus by this one example of righteous wrath and punishment the Lord wanted to issue an emphatic and solemn warning to all the congregations in the entire district or province, to all congregations to the end of time, in fact, to show that He searches the inmost mind and heart, that no transgression is hidden before His eyes, and that He will punish the evil-doers according to their works. He may not always strike so openly, but it is true, nevertheless, that no man can escape His avenging justice.

An admonition and a warning to the congregation at Thyatira:

These words are addressed to the faithful believers in Thyatira: But to you I say, the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not hold this doctrine, that did not know the depths of Satan, as they say: I do not cast upon you another burden. Some there were that had not been seduced by the immoral teachings of the false prophetess, that had kept themselves uncontaminated by her licentiousness. Even if the libertines claimed that this was the height of perfection, that they could fathom the very abysses of Satan, plunge into the very depths of immoral knowledge and practices and yet remain immune in body and mind, the true Christians knew that this was a mere pretest for indulgence in carnal excesses, and so they preserved a severe and uncompromising aloofness. Upon these people the Lord did not want to impose a further burden. He was willing to look upon their defection in the matter of dealing with the evil in their midst as a weakness, as lack of proper knowledge.

At the same time, however, He admonishes: Only hold what you have until I come. They should adhere firmly to their Christian faith and its confession, to their love, service, and patience, to their refusal to join the libertines in their terrible sins. He says that His visit, His coming, may be expected soon; He wants them to be faithful and true, to overcome wickedness and evil in every form.

To the faithful Christians the Lord also promises: And he that conquers and he that keeps My works to the end, I shall give him power over the heathen: and he shall rule them with an iron rod, like the jars of a potter he shall shatter them, as I have received from My Father, and I shall give him the morning-star. That surely is a glorious goal to hold out before the eyes of the Christians. Every one that overcomes the many attacks of Satan, the world, and his own evil flesh, and clings firmly to Christ’s Word and works by which Christ performs and perfects His sanctification in them, shall become partaker of the triumph of Christ. For as it was prophesied of Him, Psalm 2:8-9, that He would have dominion over the heathen, over the nations, that He would be given unlimited authority over them, so He will make those that believe in Him to the end partakers of this glory and power. The believers shall and will judge the world at the side of their great Lord and Savior. There, as the glory of eternity dawns, the brightness of everlasting life will shine on them after the dark afflictions of this vale of tears and misery. And lest the Christians forget the urgent admonition and the glorious promise of the Lord, He closes with the powerful call: He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations.

Summary

The Lord dictates to His servant John pastoral letters addressed to the congregations at Ephesus, at Smyrna, at Pergamos, and at Thyatira, in all of which He commends the Christians for their condition and progress, but also rebukes them for any defects in doctrine and life that were to be found in their midst.