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Doctrine
The Church's Prophetic History
– C. A. Coates and A. Wellershaus
The early years of 'the recovery' were marked by intensive prophetic inquiry.
- Besides leading to an understanding of the distinction of Israel and the assembly in God's ways, it yielded
- an understanding of the place of the public assembly in its responsible history on earth
- as distinct from the assembly as the vessel of God's purpose.
- In The Mystery of Lawlessness and the Testimony of God Mr. C. A. Coates briefly traces the course of the public assembly in
- "the history of christendom from the freshness of Pentecost through ages of decline and departure, to its certain future apostasy and fall".
- Paul's Voyage as Suggestive of Church History – as the title indicates – CAC applies the events of Acts 27 to church history, as in No. 1 above.
- The Last Two Chapters of Acts as a Picture of the Church – This article, translated from German, covers the same events as No. 2 from a slightly different perspective but with a similar application.
- A.W. says "The Holy Scriptures conceal in the history of Paul’s journey to Rome, as the epistles to the seven churches in Revelations 2-3, the history of the vessel entrusted with God’s testimony down here. It is a prophetic representation of the history of the church".
G.A.R.
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THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESNESS AND THE TESTIMONY OF GOD |
Acts 2: 42-47
Ministry of C. A. Coates 31: 290-302
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Many believers, instead of waiting for God's Son from heaven, are looking for revivals and the conversion of the world.
That our minds may be disabused of vain expectations in this direction, I desire to bring before you the fact that the prophetic future of the church, viewed as in responsibility upon earth,
- instead of being bright with increasing spiritual prosperity, is dark with abounding evil and final apostasy.
- I wish to trace in Scripture the history of christendom from the freshness of Pentecost through ages of decline and departure, to its certain future apostasy and fall.
In Acts 2: 42-47, we see the assembly as first formed on earth in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Many fail to see the declension because they have no divine thought before their minds of what the assembly is according to God.
- The more we know of the assembly's heavenly calling and character according to the purpose of God, the more conscious do we become of its present failure and ruin outwardly.
- When the foundation of the second temple was laid by the remnant of Jews who returned from captivity, there was a shout of joy and a noise of weeping.
- The young people shouted for joy because they had never seen anything better,
- but the old men who had seen Solomon's temple in its beauty and glory wept much, because, as Haggai tells us, the second temple was as nothing in their eyes.
It is a great thing to see the house as originally set up, though the contemplation of it may constrain us to feel the present ruin as we have never felt it before.
- In Acts 2 we see the house in its original beauty.
- The Lord Jesus, having accomplished eternal redemption, has ascended on high and taken His seat at the right hand of God.
- There, as the exalted Man, He had received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and had poured Him out to dwell in His saints,
- and to form them into a habitation for God.
- God desired to dwell in blessing and testimony among men, and thus to have His character expressed in this world.
- This is the true and proper character of God's house viewed from the divine side, and as composed only of "living stones".
- It is a spiritual house; a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and a royal priesthood to show forth God's excellencies before men in this world. 1 Peter 2.
But the assembly, viewed in its responsibility upon earth, has grievously failed to hold this ground, or to maintain this testimony.
- Man's failure opened the way for Satan's devices, and according to the parable,
- "While men slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel", Matthew 13: 25,
- and the result has been that the church, instead of being composed only of "living stones", is now a mixed mass of profession in which the human element vastly preponderates over the divine.
- It has become like "a great house" in which are vessels to dishonour as well as to honour.
- It is in this external aspect, as in responsibility upon earth, that we are now regarding the church, and we shall see that
- instead of extending the kingdom of Christ until the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea,
- it is destined to close its career on earth in a condition of complete apostasy.
In Acts 2 we find the saints gathered together in divine simplicity.
- Driven from the world, and drawn to each other, by the constraint of common sorrows and joys, believers were found together in the blessed exercise and experience of brotherly love.
- The name of the Lord Jesus was the bond of their fellowship, and God dwelt in them by the Spirit.
Let us now read Matthew 13: 33. Most of us are aware that this parable is often brought forward as teaching that the gospel will spread until the whole world shall be filled with the knowledge of God.
- But the fact is that leaven in Scripture always represents something evil.
- In the sacrifices and offerings of the ceremonial law it was always typical of evil,
- and whenever the offering was typical of Christ – the Holy One of God – there must be no leaven.
- Leaven is mentioned thirteen times in the New Testament, and in eleven instances no one doubts that it is used in a bad sense
- – the leaven of the Pharisees, and of Herod, the leaven of malice and wickedness, etc.
- Can we suppose, if in eleven out of thirteen instances leaven refers to that which is evil, that in the two passages – Matthew 13: 33; Luke 13: 21 – which contain this parable it means something good?
- None but those who are committed to the support of an unscriptural system of theology would entertain such a thought for a moment.
Then what do we learn from this parable? Certainly not the universal propagation and ultimate triumph of the gospel.
- No, we see the working and development of hidden wickedness.
- We thus learn that the professing church would be the scene of increasing, and finally universal, wickedness.
- I believe the woman represents the seductive power of evil in spiritual things. We shall see her again as we pursue our inquiry into these solemn matters.
- For the moment, let us seek to apprehend the significance of this prophetic picture.
- Taking this parable as our starting point, shall we not expect to find in the profession of christianity the introduction of a principle of evil that, hidden at first, will secretly extend its pernicious influence until the whole mass of profession shall be thoroughly corrupt?
- This is the only conclusion to which we can come, and we will now briefly trace the gradual extension of this corrupting influence to its final issue in the complete apostasy of that which has borne the name of Christ.
In Acts 2 the assembly's principles and practice were as far removed from those of the world as heaven is from earth.
- Believers were linked together by a bond of holy love which made each one glad to forget himself in ministering to the need of others.
- The interests of Christ were pre-eminent in every heart, and in gladness and singleness of heart the disciples
- "persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers".
But Satan, ever active in opposition to the work of God, soon found occasion to corrupt the saints from their simplicity.
- As early as Acts 6 the first indications of decline made their appearance: "There arose a murmuring".
- The spirit of self-seeking began to replace that of self-sacrifice. The first sign of failure was a failure in love.
- I pass over the case of Ananias and Sapphira as being entirely an individual matter.
- In Acts 2 and 4 the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit, but in Acts 6 when seven deacons had to be appointed,
- the apostles told the disciples to look out from among themselves seven men full of the Holy Spirit.
- In Acts 6, men filled with the Holy Spirit had to be looked for. This is very significant.
Then when we come to the epistles what do we find?
- That one was written because the assemblies in Galatia were turning their backs upon Christ and going in for ritualism and law-keeping;
- that another was written because the assembly at Corinth was becoming a scene of licentiousness and sectarianism;
- that a third was written because the saints at Colosse were in danger of being drawn away by philosophy and vain deceit;
- in that to the Philippians, Paul had to say that all sought their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ;
- and in that to Timothy he spoke of all in Asia having turned away from him.
- And we may notice in connection with the parable in Matthew 13 that in writing to Corinth and Galatia, Paul speaks of the evil that was among them as leaven.
- Is it too much to suppose that the parable was in the apostle's mind as he penned or dictated the words?
Now turn a moment to 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-8. Some at Thessalonica were contending that the day of the Lord was then present.
- The saints were passing through much persecution, and some were leading them to think that their afflictions were judgments connected with the day of the Lord, and consequently that the day of the Lord was then present.
- No, said the apostle, the day of the Lord shall not come "unless the apostasy have first come".
- Let those who say that the day of the Lord shall be brought in by the spread of the gospel and the conversion of the world read this verse and cease to dream of a progressive and triumphant church.
- "It will not be unless the apostasy have first come".
- It is a solemn fact of Scripture that the prophetic future of the church on earth is apostasy.
And mark what follows!
- "The mystery of lawlessness already works".
- A mystery is a hidden thing. The woman hid the leaven.
- It was a "mystery of lawlessness" which in Paul's day was already working; the leaven was spreading.
- I cannot enlarge on these deeply solemn and instructive statements of connected Scripture, but I commend them to your prayerful study.
Now turn for a moment to 2 Timothy 3: 1-5. The Holy Spirit gives here a prophetic picture of the last days.
- Strange that people should dream of a prosperous and progressive church, with such a passage before them.
- Many forms of wickedness are here named as being characteristic of those who, in the last days, have the form of godliness; that is, of the professing church.
- The increasing display of the working of the mystery of lawlessness, the further development and spread of the leaven, is thus clearly seen.
Let us now pass on to Revelation 2 and 3. Under figure of addresses to seven Asian assemblies, we have seven stages of the church's history in view.
EPHESUS
In the address to Ephesus, the church in the apostolic age is contemplated.
- There was much faithfulness, energy, and devotedness, which the Lord owns and commends.
- Nevertheless He speaks to them as a "fallen" assembly because they had forsaken their first love. Christ no longer filled their hearts.
- This is the state of which the apostle complained when he said,
- "All seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ", Philippians 2: 21.
SMYRNA
Then in the address to Smyrna, we get the Lord's word of encouragement to the church in persecution and distress.
- During the first three centuries the saints suffered much persecution which, for the time, cast them upon the Lord and stayed the progress of corruption within.
PERGAMOS
Afterwards the church became worldly, and is viewed in the address to Pergamos as dwelling where Satan's throne was. Satan is the prince of this world.
- About the beginning of the fourth century the church became a great power in the world.
- The emperor Constantine assumed the profession of christianity, and promulgated his new religion by imperial edict through every part of the vast empire.
- For the first time, also, we first find the doctrine of Balaam in the church, and the running greedily after error for reward has been the blight and bane of the church ever since.
- Thenceforward the church entirely departed from the place of strangership and pilgrimage here, and became a dweller on the earth.
THYATIRA
Then in Thyatira, popery is in view. Read verse 20; "the woman Jezebel".
- It was a woman who hid the leaven; here we meet with her again, and shall see more of her presently.
- She is carrying on her corrupting work, as in Matthew 13, teaching the servants of God to commit fornication, and to eat things offered to idols.
- The leaven spread until that which bore the name of Christ became a corrupt and idolatrous system.
- It is a matter of common notoriety that for hundreds of years the public church was the foulest blot of moral pollution that could be found on earth. Under the cloak of religion every conceivable iniquity was practised.
- In saying this, it must not be forgotten that God had His chosen ones all along –
- "the rest who are in Thyatira"
- – but the church as a whole was the home of gross iniquity, and, as a rule, as men advanced in ecclesiastical position, they became more and more unscrupulous.
SARDIS
Passing on to Sardis, Revealtion 3: 1-6, I have no doubt we see the Lord's mind as to Protestantism.
- The Reformation was, in many respects, a great work of God.
- By its means the Scriptures were spread abroad, and along with the opening up of Scripture came light from God as to the sinful condition of man, and the necessity for justification by faith.
- This broke the power of priestcraft and superstition by exposing the worthlessness of masses, penances, indulgences, and all the cunning devices by which the church held the consciences of men in bondage, and secured their money and lands for herself.
- But Protestantism soon degenerated into little more than a great political movement.
- Its principles and faith were widely professed by people and nations who for personal or political reasons desired to escape from the thraldom of Rome.
- Consequently, though much divine light had been vouchsafed and "received and heard", the works of Protestantism were not found "complete before my God".
- "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead".
- These words too truly describe the vast majority of Protestants today, though
- "thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy".
PHILADELPHIA
In Philadelphia we see a company of saints for whom the Lord has no word of censure.
- They have kept His word, and have not denied His name; they have kept the word of His patience.
- The fact that they thus stand true to what is of Christ shows that they have a "little power".
- It may be little, nothing to make any show, or to be of any account in the religious world, but there is power to maintain what is of God.
- Thus amid the deepening shades of the mystery of iniquity, we find a remnant identified with the testimony of God.
The Son of God has brought a most blessed testimony into this world: the revelation of God in supreme grace and love – the Father.
- His "word" is the revelation of Himself and of the Father.
- Blessed, indeed, is the portion of those who keep that word!
- The obligation to be true to His name comes in in a special way because of His rejection.
- God would have His saints to maintain, by the Holy Spirit, what is due to the One who is holy and true.
It is well that we should bear in mind the character of holiness which pertains to Christ as the risen and glorified One.
- He has laid down the life which He had as a Man upon earth, closing up in death before God the life of flesh and blood, to which in us sin attached.
- Personally He "knew not sin", but sacrificially He was made sin for us.
- Now He has taken His life again in a condition to which sin never did, or could, attach. He is now "separated from sinners", and entirely apart from the life of flesh and blood.
- Risen and glorified, He is the Holy One, the Sanctifier, and the Firstborn of a company of holy brethren, who derive from Him and are "all of one" with Him, in new creation.
- He has sanctified Himself for us, that we may also be sanctified by truth. John 17: 19.
He is "the holy, the true". There is in Him the complete setting forth of God.
- He is the "image of the invisible God", and "in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily", Colossians 1: 15; 2: 9.
- We do not need to go outside that blessed Person for anything. It is He who has accomplished all that was needed that we might lift up our hearts in righteousness and joy before the Father's face.
- If we would learn the measure of our sanctification and acceptance we can only learn it in Him,
- and if we would know God, it is in the face of Jesus Christ that all His glory shines.
- The whole testimony of what God has brought to pass for His own pleasure in the blessing of His chosen saints is set forth in that risen and glorified One.
- And the complete revelation of God in His blessed nature and attributes is also set forth in Him.
- So that to keep His word, and not deny His name, is really to stand in the full grace and blessing of christianity.
The Lord says also to Philadelphia,
- "Thou hast kept the word of my patience".
- I think this comes in by way of contrast to that which has been characteristic of both popery and Protestantism. Both the latter have striven to have a place and name on earth.
- They have sought to connect themselves with the world powers; either, on the one hand, to control those powers, or, on the other, to be supported by them.
- But the christian company approved by the Lord, in contrast to this, keeps the word of His patience.
- I understand this to be the recognition of the fact that Christ is rejected from the earth, and has no place here except in the hearts of His saints.
- He has right to everything, but possession of nothing. He sits in patience at God's right hand until the hour when His foes will be made His footstool.
- The Christian cannot be asserting his rights, or making himself prominent, or seeking place and honour in the scene of Christ's rejection. He must be consistent with
- "the patience of the Christ", 2 Thessalonians 3: 5.
For such, and these are the characteristics of the whole company of saints on earth, viewed according to God,
- deliverance is promised "out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth".
- Before the seals are broken, the trumpets sounded, or the vials poured out, the Lord will remove His own from the earth. No infliction of wrath from God can come upon those composing the assembly.
- "Having been now justified in the power of his blood, we shall be saved by him from wrath", Romans 5: 9.
- Before any infliction of wrath from heaven, the assembly will be translated to heaven. See 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18.
- There is no prophetic event, no long or short interval of prophetic time, to come before the rapture of the assembly. It is immediately in view; and hence the Lord says,
- "I come quickly: hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown".
Are we conscious of having received from God the light and joy of what He has established in Christ?
- Have we received of the fulness, and contemplated the glory, of that blessed One?
- Have we seen in His face the glory of God?
- Have we known what it was to be taken in spirit out of the world, and away from self, and from the influences which emanate from man here, by the attractiveness and blessedness of that One in glory?
- Have we tasted and known
- "the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge", Ephesians 3: 19?
- If so, then, "hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown".
God would have every saint on earth to be a Philadelphian.
- He would have all His children separate from the world, and in the intelligence of His mind and pleasure.
- He would make Christ everything to us, so that we might be delivered from every kind of evil, and from every variety of religious flesh.
- And His love is good to the feeblest heart.
- If we desire to know His mind, and to stand perfect and complete in all His will, He will not fail to strengthen us, and make us divinely competent to receive what is of Himself.
- In Christendom there is much strength for display on earth, and for religious activity,
- but where do we see the knowledge and maintenance of God's purpose and grace as set forth in Christ risen and glorified?
- Indeed, in Christendom, man in the flesh is more important and prominent than anywhere else.
- How good it is, that by divine grace we may have "a little power", and thus be enabled to keep the word, and not deny the name of the One who is "the holy, the true"! May God grant this grace to each one of us!
LAODICEA
Laodicea presents the final aspect of things before the Lord spues the whole corrupted profession of Christianity out of His mouth.
- Boastfulness and self-satisfaction characterise this church, of which the Lord says,
- "Thou art the wretched and the miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked".
- It is full of man's pretension and assumption, and Christ is outside.
- We cannot look abroad today without seeing the marks of Laodicea on every hand. Everything divine reduced to man's level, or to a level where man supposes he can reach it.
- Higher criticism – to its own satisfaction – has pretty well disposed of the miraculous element in Scripture.
- Men are encouraged to think for themselves.
- Anything in Scripture which the natural man can adopt, or adapt to himself in any way, may be allowed to claim a certain kind of inspiration.
- But everything outside this – that is, everything distinctively of God – is swept aside as purely mythical or figurative, or as only attributable to the ignorance of an unenlightened age.
But where is Christ in all this man-exalting system? Where is the cross?
- Where the recognition that man in the flesh in his best form, educated, cultivated, moral, or religious, is offensive to God?
- Where is it proclaimed that Christ alone, the second Man, out of heaven, fills the eye and heart of God with pleasure, and that all other men present before God the utter moral ruin of fallen and lost creatures?
- These divine thoughts and realities are totally unknown in Laodicea, or only known as subjects of derision.
- Man is everything in Laodicea; Christ, the Christ of God, is nothing.
Yet still He stands at the door and knocks. There may be an aching and unsatisfied heart somewhere in that circle where self-complacency and pride predominate.
- So He will knock at the door which excludes Him, and He will speak in grace even to Laodicea.
- "If any one hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me".
RITUALISM and RATIONALISM
It is instructive to observe that the course of apostasy divides itself into two great streams.
- Thyatira represents one of those streams, and Laodicea the other.
- One is the vast current of superstition, idolatry, and fleshly religion which we see full-blown in popery, and which is known in this country as ritualism.
- The other is rationalism, which assumes the competency of the human mind to investigate, and to pronounce upon, the things of God.
- Both agree to exclude Christ.
- Ritualism makes much of man in the flesh as a religious being.
- Rationalism makes much of him as an intellectual being.
- The truth of christianity is that man in both aspects is under death and judgment as offensive to God, and that nothing avails before God but a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Every professed Christian is either on the line that man in the flesh can be something for God,
- or on the line that Christ is everything, and that man in the flesh is nothing.
- That is, every professed Christian is either identified with Thyatira or Laodicea on the one hand, or with Philadelphia on the other.
Sardis may be regarded as an intermediate state, but practically Protestantism as we see it today partakes of the character of either Thyatira or Laodicea.
- Protestantism was produced by the introduction of a measure of divine light, and also by the revolt of natural conscience against the errors and enormities of Rome.
- But in Protestantism generally there was no recognition of the fact that man in the flesh was entirely set aside for God in the death of Christ, and that saints were before God for His pleasure only as being "in Christ Jesus", in new creation.
- Hence in the reformed churches generally the sacramental system was retained, the distinction between clergy and laity was still recognised, and provision was made for the mass of the people, whether converted or not, to take part in the worship.
- Man in the flesh was still recognised as having status before God, and the result of this has been that Protestantism generally has either fallen back in the direction of ritual and popery, or it has moved forward into rationalism.
- It has become assimilated in character either to Thyatira or to Laodicea.
GOD'S MIND KNOWN TO PHILADELPHIA
What gives peculiar and distinctive character to Philadelphia is that God's mind is known there. It is composed of those who stand in the true grace and blessing of christianity.
- According to the divine mind, every true saint belongs to Philadelphia.
- Alas! as a matter of fact, many converted persons are still entangled with that in which God finds no pleasure.
- They have not reached, in the apprehension of their souls, a circle where
- "Christ is everything, and in all", Col. 3: 11.
- God cares for such and feeds them, but they are babes having need of milk. They have not reached christian maturity.
- Their knowledge of the grace of God is imperfect, and they are not at all acquainted with His purposes as established and set forth in Christ risen and glorified.
- Every full-grown Christian is a Philadelphian.
- Of course, one who had touched it might be diverted from it. Hence the warning,
- "Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown".
THE APOSTASY AFTER THE RAPTURE
As to the course of the apostasy after the rapture of the church my remarks must necessarily be brief.
- Deprived of every true member of the body of Christ, and spued out of His mouth as nauseous to Him, the history and doom of the apostate church is seen in Revelation 17 and 18.
- Here we see the woman again. She has at last brought her corrupting
influence to a successful climax. She rides upon a scarlet-coloured beast which represents the temporal and imperial power; see verses 12, 13.
- "And upon her forehead a name written, Mystery".
- Here we see the full result of the working of the hidden leaven, the mystery of lawlessness.
- The woman, typical of the seductive power of evil in connection with spiritual things, has succeeded in so corrupting christianity that it retains no trace of its divine origin, but becomes the masterpiece of abomination.
- Then in consummated apostasy she exclaims, "I sit a queen, and I am not a widow, and I shall in no wise see grief", Revelation 18: 7.
- Brief will be the hour of her triumph, and terrible her overthrow. God has decreed that as she loved to lord it over the temporal powers, those powers shall be the means of her destruction.
- "The ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire".
- "For this reason in one day shall her plagues come, death and grief and famine, and she shall be burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord God who has judged her", Revelation 18: 8.
So far as real Christians are concerned, the effect of seeing this should be to separate us more distinctly from the course of things which tends to apostasy.
- And we shall only be preserved from the influences which tend in that direction as we stand in the grace and power of christianity according to the mind of God.
May we be found keeping the word of Christ, and not denying His name, and keeping the word of His patience!
- Thus shall we be preserved from the influences which tend in the direction of apostasy.
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PAUL'S VOYAGE AS SUGGESTIVE OF CHURCH HISTORY |
Acts 27: 1-44
Ministry of C. A. Coates 31: 373-78
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In verses 2 and 3 of this chapter we get a hint of the happy conditions which were found in the assembly
- when it was marked by the work of faith, the labour of love and the enduring constancy of hope.
- "Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us".
- What a comfort to Paul to have with him that kind of companionship – the company of those who were his glory and joy! 1 Thessalonians 2: 20.
- In those days of first love the saints were characteristically Paul's friends, and there was much "consolation of love" amongst them and refreshment of heart.
Then in verses 4-7 "the winds were contrary". The prince of the power of the air raised every kind of opposition.
- "Satan has hindered us", Paul says.
- There was great persecution and many contrary elements. There was slow sailing and difficulty.
- It was for the Jewish believers a transitional stage from the old order to the new, and this rendered movement slow.
In verse 8 they came to Fair Havens. This was the place God intended for them, and where they should have stayed. It answers to
- "without the camp, bearing his reproach".
- This would have been a safe place, but it was "ill adapted"; the outside place and the reproach of Christ are never comfortable to flesh and blood.
- And verse 9 tells us that navigation was
- "already dangerous, because the fast was already past".
- I think there is moral import in that. There is always danger when self-restraint is given up and self-indulgence begins.
Paul counsels them in verse 10. This very much corresponds with what we have in Acts 20: 17-35.
- That was a solemn moment; it was like the pilot leaving the ship, but giving a solemn warning as to the perils of the voyage before them.
- But we find in verse 11 that the official class will not heed Paul.
- It is striking how soon an official class were found in the church who disregarded Paul's teaching – a clerical order soon sprang up who would not listen to the apostles.
- The effect of their counsel was an effort to reach Phoenice, a place which looks north-east and south-east; that is, it faces in two different directions, which rather suggests trying to make the best of both worlds.
- This brings us along in the history to Constantine's time and after, when the church and the world came into unholy union.
- For a time the south wind blew softly – verse 13 – and all seemed favourable.
- When we are going wrong Satan does not stand in our path as a roaring lion; he rather makes things easy for us.
But soon the storm broke, and there was no power to stand against it.
- The true state and position of the church having been departed from,
- and an official class being in authority who did not heed Paul,
- there was no power to stand against the evil influences which broke like a tempest upon her.
- The head of the ship could not be brought to the wind.
- There was no spiritual power to face or to resist the pressure of evil; the ship was caught and driven before it.
Certain efforts were made in verses 16 and 17 which had their correspondence in church councils and the formulation of creeds, which helped to preserve things a little as to outward forms.
- But spiritually there was great surrender;
- "the next day they threw cargo overboard".
- All heavenly truth was given up.
How could the worldly church retain the truth of association with a risen and heavenly Christ, or what was connected with the presence and power of the Spirit down here? So her precious cargo had to go.
Then on the third day
- "with their own hands they cast away the ship furniture".
- I suppose that church order remained for some time after the church had practically given up the heavenly calling and her true affections and hopes.
- For example, we may conclude that all was in outward order at Ephesus – Revelation 2 – though first love had been left.
- But presently all that rightly belonged to church order was thrown overboard.
Then for many days "neither sun nor stars" appeared.
- There was no heavenly light.
- People speak of those days as 'the Dark Ages'. No doubt God had His witnesses in many a hidden corner,
- but as to the public history of the church it was dark indeed.
- And there was no enjoyment of food;
- "they had been a long while without taking food".
- Light and food go together.
Then after "a long while" Paul speaks again.
- "Ye ought, O men, to have hearkened to me".
- If Paul's teaching had been heeded, the church would have been preserved.
- But in spite of all this he now comes in with the cheering word that there should be
- – everything vital would be preserved.
- I think "Paul" spoke again at the Reformation and since. Justification by faith brought in vitality;
- it became a question of believing God, not the church. "I believe God". The just lives by his faith.
In verse 27, "the sailors supposed that some land neared them", and they take soundings.
- It began to be realised that the voyage would end in shipwreck even as Paul had warned them long before.
- The attention drawn to dispensational and prophetic truth, and the application of these truths to the present circumstances of the church were very much like taking soundings.
- This led to the position being realised. Ruin and apostasy were the only future to be contemplated here,
- but this was learned in the light of all that the assembly was according to the divine thought,
- and the hope of the Lord's coming and the church's previous rapture came distinctly into the view and affections of saints.
- It began to be widely felt by all exercised persons that we were in the last days, and that the coming of the Lord drew nigh. And every sounding is less and less.
- Even thirty years ago people would have been shocked at the things which are widely preached today, and religious infidelity gets bolder every day.
Then in verse 30 there is another movement. The sailors wish to flee out of the ship and to go off in a boat, but Paul will not suffer this to be done, though it was ostensibly to serve a good purpose.
- The "boat" seems to suggest the dissenting principle which recognises that the ship – the public profession – is in a bad state, but proposes to remedy matters by forming little churches on a narrower basis than that of the assembly of God.
- But this is not really the divine way; Paul's doctrine does not allow it. The sad plight of the ship must be faced and owned, but the divine preservation is in being with Paul.
- "God has granted to thee all those that sail with thee".
- If we are with Paul we shall hold to the truth of the assembly, of which he was minister, and we shall not admit any sectarian or 'little church' ideas.
- Without attempting to form anything we shall walk with fellow-saints on the principles Paul laid down in 2 Timothy.
To go off in a boat suggests to my mind a giving up of the truth of the assembly.
- Christians associate together on the basis of certain truths, but practically give up what is the distinctive truth of the present time – the truth of the assembly.
- Many things have become a "boat" in which saints have gone off from assembly truth.
- At different times there have been movements amongst those professing to walk together in the truth
- which have involved the practical giving up of divine assembly principles, and
- those movements have led to divisions amongst saints.
- It is a real exercise not to go off in a boat where we shall not be in company with Paul!
- We have to hold to every divine principle and to every part of assembly truth,
- whatever the outward ruin may be.
In verse 33, "while it was drawing on to daylight, Paul exhorted them all to partake of food".
- The light of a coming day begins to break. Peter speaks of the day dawn and the morning star arising in the hearts of saints.
- This is pretty much what the Spirit has been giving to many hearts in recent years.
- And along with the light of the coming day, food has been provided for saints.
- Light and food always go together; if God gives light He also gives food to build up the constitution of His saints. Salvation is found in the food supply.
Then verse 35 is strikingly suggestive. In connection with Paul's voice being heard the breaking of bread comes in.
- It is one of the most distinctive features of these last days that the breaking of bread has been revived.
- It was lost in sacramentalism for many centuries, but it has been revived and it seems to indicate a special activity of the love of Christ just before, and in view of, the end.
- It is wonderful that such a precious and divine rallying-point should have been restored,
- and that the saints should be exercised to get away from all sacramental and formal ideas,
- and to enter into what the Supper was in the heart and mind of the Lord Jesus when He instituted it,
- and all that He intended it to be to them as the witness of His love, and the answer to that love – so deeply valued by Him – on their part.
"He gave thanks to God before all".
- How sweet to think of this! The breaking of bread and thanksgiving to God go together, and both are revived in the power of divine love just before the end.
Then "having satisfied themselves with food, they lightened the ship, casting out the wheat into the sea".
- I do not know whether we might take this as suggesting that a satisfied people have something to cast upon the waters – there is a widespread testimony of grace in the glad tidings
Verse 41 is close to the end. Two powerful forces of evil meet with destructive effect.
- Superstition and infidelity – ritualism and the sacramental system on one side, and rationalism on the other, and between the two everything is breaking up.
- Nothing will get through but the energy of individual faith, and vitality comes out in this. This is what we see in 2 Timothy.
Chapter 28: 1-10 is suggestive of the time to come when those who show favour and kindness to the people of God will come into blessing. Matthew 25: 31-46.
- Paul's character is seen in his readiness to gather sticks for the fire – a ministry of warmth and comfort; and Satan's power, figured in the viper, is dispossessed and nullified.
- Then we see the powers of the world to come in the healing of the father of Publius and others.
- The restlessness and bloodshed which now mark the nations will be healed when Christ lays His hand upon them.
- God will make the favour of the nations to be comfort for His people. Isaiah 60: 9-10, 16, etc.
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THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS OF ACTS AS A PICTURE OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH |
Acts 27 and 28
Alfred Wellerhaus (1897-1968)
Translated from German
|
It is remarkable, that the book of Acts, which relates the mighty deeds of the apostles and of other men, should end with Paul in a shipwreck and imprisoned in Rome,
- without any mention made of his release.
- This indicates that the church, instead of conquering and dominating the world, would experience shipwreck and that the believers would have to get themselves to safety on an island.
- It is also noteworthy that in Acts 27-28 there should be found so many details, from which we can easily gather facts foretold about church history, as far as it is known to us.
- The Holy Scriptures conceal in the history of Paul’s journey to Rome, as the epistles to the seven churches in Revelations 2-3, the history of the vessel entrusted with God’s testimony down here.
- It is a prophetic representation of the history of the church.
- Paul remains a prisoner until the end and despite his heavenly teaching being impeded and restricted, thus the church will never be completely rid of it.
“But when it been determined that we sail to Italy, they delivered up Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion, by name Julius, of Augustus’ company”, Acts 27: 1.
- In those days, Italy was the center of the world. The decision to sail to Italy shows that very early many Christians aspired to make the center of this world the center of the church, thus giving up Christ, the head in heaven.
- To this Paul’s teaching is opposed and was therefore made prisoner and delivered up to the Roman centurion Julius, who represents the believing bishops and pastors of later, for “Julius” means “belonging to the sheaf of wheat”.
- Julius belonged to the sheaf of wheat, i.e. to the raised Lord and His people; he treated Paul with much benevolence – verse 3 – as also the believing pastors did with his teaching.
- But being a Roman officer, he could not give him full freedom, no more than believing pastors in the state church could set out his teaching in completely free manner, being public servants.
The first ship they boarded was at Adramyttium and about to navigate by the places along Asia – verse 2.
- Adramyttium means “forecourt of death”. It represents the early church, the church of the apostles, which had come forth from the death of Christ by the word of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1: 18.
- Around this early church, was the forecourt of death, where the deathblow was dealt to the old man.
- All would have gone well if the church had always kept the word of the cross, which dealt the natural man his deathblow, in the foreground, in the forecourt.
- The ship would not sail to Italy, but to Asia, where Paul had announced all the counsel of God in Ephesus. Acts 20: 27.
- Everything in the primitive church was aimed at reaching this destination; the ship set sail for it.
“Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us”, verse 2.
- This should remind us of the church’s early state, when she was still characterized by the
- “work of faith, and labor of love and enduring constancy of hope”, 1 Thesssalonians 1: 3.
- How precious such voyage companions such as Aristarchus of Thessalonica must have been to Paul, for he calls the Thessalonians his glory and joy and crown of boasting. 1 Thessalonians 2: 19-20.
- Really in those days of first love, the believers were still a true joy for Paul.
- Aristarchus means “the first leader”. In the beginning only such as were first in love were considered to be leaders.
In verse 3, the ship is said to arrive at Sidon. Sidon had once fallen to the tribe of Asher – meaning “happy, blessed” – Joshua 19: 28, which alas never took possession of it.
- Later, when David reigned, he made a covenant with Sidon. Sidon is a figure of this world. Instead of overcoming it, the church later made a covenant with it.
- But the early church did not, for Paul had “friends” in Sidon, to whom the world was crucified, and they to the world – Galatians 6: 14 – and who appreciated his heavenly teaching.
In verse 4, we find the ship sailing under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were contrary.
- Satan, the ruler of the authority of the air – Ephesians 2: 2 – early on raised all sorts of opposition in order to destroy Christianity.
- Cyprus should at any rate remind us of this Jewish magician called Elymas, who was the first one to oppose Paul’s teaching. Acts 13.
- Elymas, this “son of the devil”, Acts 13: 10, sought to influence the main persons in charge in the Roman administration against Paul and Christianity.
- He was a magician, therefore devising and spreading purposely and systematically a tissue of lies against the Christians. Being a Jew, he embodies the whole Jewish people.
- The first attacks against the church vessel were from such Jewish magicians and liars.
In verse 5, the ship sailed under contrary winds over the waters of Cilicia and Pamphylia and came to Myra in Lycia.
- Cilicia signifies “land of the insurgents”.
- Paul came from Cilica and he calls himself a “blasphemer and persecutor, and an insolent overbearing man” whom mercy was shewn. 1 Timothy 1: 13.
- Such overbearing men attacked the church, as in the instance of the uproar in Ephesus. Acts 19.
- Pamphylia means “covenant of several tribes”. Persecutions were also organized by the Roman administration; they did not only keep a riotous character.
- The first persecution by the Roman state took place under emperor Nero (64-68 AD).
- In this persecution Peter and Paul [i.e., their teaching] were put to death and the ship was forced to land in Myra in Lycia, where is was abandoned for another ship.
- Myra signifies “weeping” and Lycia means “land of the wolves”. The grievous wolves – Acts 20: 29 – now broke into the church and caused much weeping.
In verse 6, Julius the centurion found a ship of Alexandria, and brought Paul and the Christians aboard.
- The ship of Adramyttium, of the “forecourt of death” was abandoned in Myra and a ship of Alexandria in Egypt was now boarded.
- All who were in Asia had given up Paul’s teaching – 2 Timothy 1: 15; the first love, the original state was abandoned – Revelation 2: 4 – and the Christians became worldly.
- The party of travelers on the ship came from Alexandria, an Egyptian city with a university, where philosophy, the sciences and pedagogy were taught.
- All these things penetrated the church after the time of the apostles.
- Love for Christ and living faith on Him were widely abandoned and the relationship of Christians with God was approached from mere theological point of view.
- The fellowship of the early church, around which was the “forecourt of death” was no more considered to be the true church.
- The outward profession of the baptized was enlarged to form a great house – 2 Timothy 2 – baptism having been made an ecclesiastical act by which one would be born again.
- Christians had fallen asleep and the enemy sowed weeds among them.
- The Lord reproaches the church with these things in the epistle to the assembly in Ephesus and calls upon her to repent.
In verse 7, the worldly ship attempted to land in Cnidus.
- The church tried to make herself at home down here, for Cnidus means “nest”.
- But God prevented it by the terrible persecutions that came upon the church. The wind did not let the ship approach Cnidus.
- Therefore the ship left the coasts of Asia and sailed under the lee of Crete abreast of Salmone. Salmone means “to go together”.
- Now the church tried to go together with the world, but this was prevented by winds of persecution.
In verse 8, the ship landed on Crete in a port called Fair Havens, near to which was the city of Lasea. Crete is given by some to mean “locking”.
- When the Christians realized that the church was still being persecuted after all the secularization, they shut themselves up in their chamber
- to repent in secret of having left their first love and original state, giving thus heed to the Lord’s call in the epistle to the church in Ephesus.
- We also have to repent of it. Self-judgment in the secret of our chamber has always been a safe and fair haven – Fair Havens.
- Nearby lies the city of Lasea i.e. “hill city”.
- The Lord said “he that abases himself shall be exalted”, Luke 14: 11.
- This state is depicted in the epistle to Smyrna, in which there is no rebuke found, for if we judge ourselves, the Lord does not judge us.
- This characterized the second and third centuries, the period of persecution of Christians.
Alas, the Alexandrian ship owner deemed this port on Crete, the haven of repentance and self-judgment, to be ill adapted to winter in. Verse 12.
- The most counseled to set sail on Phoenice, another port of Crete, looking northeast and southeast. Phoenice means, “palm tree”.
- The secularized Christians were indeed willing to humble themselves, but in order to receive palm branches, to meet with approval. Shutting themselves up was to impress others with their piety.
- True and godly repentance was to be transformed into a monastic and ascetic repentance, which would earn approval and applause. We find here the beginnings of monasticism.
- There was eagerness for palms and seclusion was not chosen to condemn oneself before God, but to please oneself.
It says in verse 9, that the fast was already past.
- Taking things strictly and practicing spiritual self-restraint was over and the show of oneself had begun.
- When this is the case with us, we loose our spiritual power. By his teaching Paul strongly warned Christians of leaving Fair Haven – verses 9-10 – for this navigation would end in shipwreck.
- So it is with us, if enter upon a way marked by self-will and rebellion against God’s word, it will end with shipwreck.
- Alas, the ship owner’s word was believed rather than Paul’s. Verse 11. Early on a clergy formed inside the church that would no more listen to the apostles. 3 John 9.
- They counseled to sail to Phoenice to receive palms and approval from men. Phoenice was looking northeast and southeast, offering a lookout for the best advantages in God’s world and in man’s world.
In verse 13, the south wind was blowing gently, alluding to the toleration and recognition of Christianity under Emperor Constantine in AD 313.
- This induced the ships’ party of travelers to leave Fair Havens against the warnings of Paul. But God attended to it, that the ship would not reach Phoenice.
- Now a hurricane called Euroclydon came down on Crete and the ship could not resist it. Verses 14-15. Euroclydon means the “eastern wave”.
- Satan mounted a mighty assault from the east against the church. Arianism rose in the east and sought to overflow the Roman Empire coming from the east.
- Later on more false teachings came up in the east, making the eastern churches the scene of constant conflicts and difficulties from the 4th century on.
- Finally came the complete apostasy from Christianity by Islam in the 7th century, which had its origins in the east as well.
- This shows Satan’s mighty assault against the church vessel, which was eager for palms.
- The epistle to the church in Pergamos gives us picture of this period. Satan established his throne in the midst of the church and it had to be written to the Christians in Pergamos
- “among you where Satan dwells”, Revelation 2: 13.
- The church vessel not being equal to these attacks of Satan, it was let go and was helplessly driven to its doom. Verse 15.
- The “helps” – verse 17 – used to frap the ship allude to the church councils and the setting up of creeds, which prevented the breaking-up of the church into countless sects.
- But the boat believers that wanted to splinter themselves off could hardly be kept on the ship as they were running under the lee of an island called Clauda. Verses 16. Clauda signifies “pitiable voice” and the council’s dogmas were pitiable indeed.
In verse 18, they threw the cargo overboard.
- The whole heavenly teaching of Paul was thrown overboard.
- In verse 19, they also cast away the ship furniture. All external order received from the apostolic church was thrown overboard.
There followed in verse 20 a long dark night, during which neither son nor stars appeared.
- This was the night of the Papacy, the period of Thyatira, a time without heavenly light at all, during which the church was left defenseless against the storm winds of Satan.
- Satan then taught the church about saints, who had done over and above what God expected from them. This led the natural man’s superstitious mind to venerate these saints and their relics and to turn to monks and nuns, in order to earn the approval of man.
- Christ, the sun, and the believers, the stars, shone no more, and in Christ’s stead the old man was crowned and Christianized.
- During these dark Middle Ages the true believers almost starved to death, they remained all this long while without light and without taking food. Verse 21.
- The Holy Spirit gives only a quick survey of a whole millennium – from 500 A.D. to 1500 A.D. – in verse 20 with but a little detail, because He was so terribly blasphemed during this period.
- Adrift and at the mercy of Satan’s powers, Christianity came from the orient, the east, where the Apostles had set it up, to the occident, to the western countries of Europe.
- The western Roman world turned not to Christ, apart from a few faithful ones, but was Christianized only outwardly by the Papacy.
- Following the council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, which erroneously declared Mary mother of God, masses of heathens joined the church; their idolatrous temples were transformed into Christian churches.
- Rome had always been a lawgiver and legal, and these characteristics of Rome were simple Christianized outwardly under the Papacy.
When in the end all hope of the ship being saved was taken away – verse 20 – when all the reforming councils of the 15th century had brought no result,
- Paul began to speak again. Verse 26.
- God gave the Reformation to the western countries, not to the eastern, where the Apostles had laboured. For Paul’s speaking in the church began at the time of the Reformation.
- This is presented to us in the epistle to Sardis. Paul said:
- “Ye ought to have harkened to me”, verse 21,
- and the Reformers clearly showed that the church since the 4th century had taken a course that was opposed to the Word of God. Paul said further:
- “Be of good courage, men, for I believe God”, verse 25.
- The Reformers emphasized faith and confidence in God instead of the church. Finally Paul also said:
- “We must be cast to shore on a certain island”, verse 26.
- Luther wrote that a time would come when believers would assemble like the first Christians in homes, outside of the church, and then would have to isolate themselves – like an island – from unholy elements.
- So the island was already spoken of at the time of the Reformers.
- But there was no hope left for the ship’s salvation. Each sounding by the sailors showed more clearly that it would be stranded. Verses 27-32.
- And while it was drawing unto daylight, Paul exhorted all aboard to partake of food. Verses 33-34. Luther and others translated the Bible into their own language and in this way gave the believers food again.
- After they had satisfied themselves with food, they cast out the wheat into the sea. Verse 38. This may allude to the diffusion of the Bible in heathen countries and the foreign missions.
- This characterizes Protestantism: Believers again feed themselves on God’s Word, which they also bring to the heathen.
- This then gives the believers the spiritual strength to swim to the island representing the kind of fellowship alluded to by Luther. Chapter 28: 1.
When day came they ran the ship aground. Verses 39-41.
- The stranding corresponds to the breakdown of the church hierarchy at the time of the French Revolution and Napoleon.
- The prow, Catholicism, stuck itself fast and remained unmoved. But for faith it is just a lifeless wreck.
- The stern, Protestantism, was broken by the force of the waves of Rationalism, the religion of reason.
- Protestants are split like the many parts of the ship and the boards, i.e. into many different churches to which believers still cling – verse 44 – while other believers swim without boards to get out on land. Verse 43.
When the ship ran aground, many believers saw the time had come to leave the ship. They swam to the island called Melita. Chapter 28: 1.
- Thus many believers as shipwrecked, brought themselves to safety into the fellowship that Luther had foretold.
- Melita means “a flow of honey” pointing to the ardent brotherly love prevailing and flowing in Philadelphia.
- Outwardly these Christians are regarded as barbarians – verse 2 – i.e. uneducated, who didn’t progress with the cultural development around them.
- But they show no common kindness to the shipwrecked believers taking refuge with them, having Philadelphia’s fire of brotherly love kindled in their heard.
- Around them is rain and cold. Verse 2. This represents the aversion for these believers shown by those not yet prepared to follow God’s way.
- Paul gathered sticks to keep the fire of brotherly love burning. Verse 3.
- This brought out a viper, Satan’s resistance. The viper hung from Paul’s hand, and thereby Paul’s revived ministry was brought into discredit. Verse 4.
- Even some of those who have warmed themselves up at the fire of brotherly love thought the viper had poisoned the revived ministry and they turned away.
- But those really exercised before God finally recognized that the revived ministry was really of Him. Verse 6.
- But we should not of course idolize ministry written in view of reviving Paul’s teaching among believers – “they said he was a god” – but allow it the place the Lord has given it in the church.
In verses 7-10, Paul cured some from fever and dysentery.
- Fever stems from a cold a believer got in this cold world.
- Dysentery stems from eating inappropriate food, for instance from reading bad books and so forth.
- The only remedy for it is Paul’s revived ministry and the fire of Philadelphia’s brotherly love.
In verse 11, the journey continued and they boarded an Alexandrian ship, which had wintered in the island.
- Through wintering on the island of brotherly love it had put to death the worldly elements of Alexandria.
- The ship sailed with the Dioscuri for its ensign, i.e. the constellation of the twins – Gemini. Because of their strong similarity, twins usually have strong bonds.
- The ship would so to say bring the testimony of Philadelphia’s revived brotherly love to all places.
- After a warm wind blew from the south, the gentle blowing of the love of God, they found “brethren” in Puteoli – verses 13-14 – and “brethren” came from Rome to meet them. Verse 15.
- When Paul saw there were “brethren” in Rome, in the Roman western world, he thanked God and took courage. Verse 15.
When Paul arrived in Rome he had a discussion with those who were chief of the Jews – verses 16-29 – corresponding to the majority of today’s Christian leaders.
- They are indifferent to Paul’s ministry, proud and pretentious. They disclose Laodicea’s spirit and call those revived by Paul’s ministry a sect everywhere spoken against. Verse 22.
- In verse 29 they went away from Paul. Almost all of today’s religious leaders have turned away from the truth.
In verses 30, 31, Paul remained in his own hired lodging in Rome.
- Marks of his revived ministry can be found in the western, Roman world today.
- But like Onesiphorus of old, all believers may seek out Paul very diligently in this Roman world and find him. 2 Timothy 1: 17.
- Paul is not found in the Vatican or in a palace, but in a house not easily found, in the house of brotherly love.
- He is not a church dignitary, but a homely, brotherly man, who receives all who come to him.
- But first he preaches the Kingdom of God, namely that God has all the say and man none.
- May this not repel us, for also Paul’s glorious teaching about Christ and the church is not found elsewhere in the Bible.
- The superficial occidental Christendom has this precious gemstone, Paul’s teaching, in its midst until the rapture.
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