We only touched a little upon the general features of the church of Philadelphia last evening, just so much as was needful to connect it with the preceding church of Sardis.

• We will, therefore, now turn again, the Lord helping us, to consider more particularly the details of the church of Philadelphia; and in so doing, we would notice, in the first place, that
  • the most prominent feature in this church of Philadelphia is, that it is one of special blessing to meet a special need.

• For, after all the display of terrible evil through which we have had to pass, in the previouS condition of the churches, now that we have reached Philadelphia, we find it to be all mercy and blessing.

It is very blessed to observe, that however poor and feeble God's people may be, even though the faithful ones be reduced to a remnant of individuals, He never forgets them.

• His eye is ever upon them to give them out of His own resources, according to what they need and when they need, at the time that surrounding things are darkest. When both the church and the world have arrived at a state of felt darkness, then the few who are faithful have the most "light in the Lord".

• For the life of faith is always nourished and sustained by the faithful grace of Christ, according to the power of that which draws upon it – according to the difficulties through which it has to pass.

It is another question whether the Lord's people are to be used in testimony by Him in time of failure; this will be according to His wisdom.

• We see this exemplified – as we have before remarked – in Israel; the failure of the golden calf was met by inward spiritual power in Moses putting the tabernacle outside the camp.

• And when the open and avowed worship of Baal prevailed, then God raised up Elijah and Elisha with great outward manifestation of power;
  • but then the seven thousand faithful ones were hidden of God.

• The Lord may not choose to put the outward honour of testimony upon that which has failed. Still He gives the needed grace and inward power of life to sustain the individual soul; and this, as regards the saints now, flowing from the Head in glory for the nourishment of the body on the earth, can never fail.

• Thus, as regards gifts in the church, for instance, those which were for signs – "sign-gifts" as they are sometimes called, and a testimony to the world, signs being for those which believe not, as "tongues", "gifts of healing", etc. – these may be all gone;

• but never can those gifts be removed which flow down from the Head to sustain the members of the body;
  • for "no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the church".

In the epistle to the Ephesians, where the church is so specially brought out as the body of Christ, we find the gifts for the church spoken of as being

• "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ".

• Here we have not a word about the sign-gifts, while in Corinthians we have "gifts of healing", "divers kind of tongues", "interpretation of tongues", etc.

• Thus we see in Scripture two characters of gifts distinctly marked out:

1. first, the sign-gifts, as in Corinthians, which were public signs attached to the church for outward testimony, whereby to attract an unbelieving world;

2. secondly, those gifts which flow from the Head for the nourishment of the body.

• This nourishment must ever remain. It may come in the way of outward testimony, or direct from Christ Himself in the way of grace; but there must always be this supply from the Head.

• This is just what we get brought out in the Philadelphian church; for that which characterised it was weakness – only a little power, but a much greater nearness to Him who is power, a greater degree of affection to the Lord, more intimacy of communion with Him, and in the promises made to it a much more definite identification with Himself.

Weakness is that which characterised the church of Philadelphia, but then it was without reproach from the Lord.

• And we must ever remember this, that though God may give an outward display of power, such as gifts of healing, tongues, and the like, as a testimony to the world, or these may all have come to an end,
  • yet at all times, either with or without this outward manifestation of power, the sense of weakness is competent strength if mixed with faith.

• There may be trouble of heart along with this sense of weakness without unbelief. There was this sense of the surrounding sorrow in the Lord Jesus.
  • "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour".

• But thus we see the sorrow was the very thing which immediately linked Him with His Father.

But, alas! in us there is too often such a getting into communion with the sorrow itself, such a turning of our souls to the thoughts of sorrow, as to lead to the distrusting God's competency to meet it. For, instead of saying,

• "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul",

• we are turning about in the multitude of our thoughts to think what is to be done, and thus looking at and occupying ourselves about circumstances, or what we find within us, so as to keep God out altogether; but this was never the case with the Lord Jesus.

• For the moment the hour of sorrow appeared before His soul, the immediate cry was,
  • "Father, save me from this hour".

• But if we are thinking about our own weakness in any other way than to lead us to immediate dependence upon the strength of God, God with us and God for us, it is unbelief.

It is not, moreover, a sense of the greatness of God's gifts and revelations to us in which our strength lies.

• For signs and miracles do not give inward strength; they may confirm His word to us in times of trial, but can never impart inward strength; and it is of importance clearly to understand this.

• Take, for instance, the case of Paul, who was caught up into the third heaven, and heard there things which it was not possible for him to utter. An amazing thing this, and doubtless it was a kind of background for Paul's soul to rest upon in his trials, his having been in the third heaven.

• But it did not give him inward strength. On the contrary, the flesh, without God's overruling care, would have been puffed up, and this is not strength; but when he got something that made him sensible of his own weakness, then strength from God could come in.

• And so it is with us: our hearts are so treacherous, and our flesh so wicked, that if not watched against, we should abuse everything that the Lord makes known to us.

• We need not stop here to enquire what Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was, although it is often made the subject of much fruitless enquiry, out of mere curiosity; but this we would remark, that each one of us will have a different thorn according to the danger we are in.

• Thus much we know from Galatians 4: 13-14, that it was something which tended to make him despicable in the flesh, thus producing sensible weakness in his ministry. And, therefore, Paul cried thrice to the Lord to remove it; to which the Lord replied,
  • "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness".

• Paul must realise this sense of weakness in order to learn where real strength lies; and then he can glory in his infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon him; as he says,
  • "When I am weak, then am I strong".

There is always strength in looking to God; but if the mind rest upon the weakness otherwise than to cast it upon God, it becomes unbelief.

• Difficulties may come in. God may allow many things to arise to prove our weakness; but the simple path of faith is to go on, not looking beforehand at what we have to do, but reckoning upon the help that we shall need, and find when the time arrives.

• The sense that we are nothing makes us glad to forget ourselves, and then it is that Christ becomes everything to the soul.

• There is real strength in pursuing the simple path of obedience in what we may have to do, whatever the trial may be. So it was with David when he had to fight.
  • "The Lord, that delivered me out of the paw of the bear, and out of the paw of the lion, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine".

• It was no matter to David whether it was the lion, the bear, or this giant of the Philistines; it was all the same to him, for in himself he was as weak in the presence of one as the other; but he went on quietly doing his duty, taking it for granted that God would be with him. This is faith.

• Mark the contrast with this in the unbelief of the spies sent by Moses to spy out the land. They trembled and said they were but as grasshoppers in the sight of their enemies, thus quite forgetting what God was for them, and making it a question between themselves and the Anakims, instead of between the Anakims and God.

• But where there is a simple reference to the Lord, then
  • "I can do all things through Christ strengthening me".

• When trouble comes in, we must not be looking at ourselves, but, knowing that we are nothing but weakness, simply look to the Lord as everything in the way of strength for us.

The case of Philadelphia was one of decided weakness, but faithfulness; there may be great apparent power and yet weakness itself.

• As the Holy Ghost says in 1 Corinthians, there may be the speaking with the tongues of men and angels, the understanding of all mysteries, and all knowledge, and yet there may be, at the same time, the most perfect weakness, because all this was not done in communion with God.

• There is nothing more dangerous than to have the outward manifestation of power going beyond the inward association and communion of soul with God; the life within must be equal to the outward display of power. We have lately alluded to this in the case of Elijah.
  • "These things saith he that is holy, he that is true".

• Here in Philadelphia we have the Lord in His moral character, and not in the character of personal power as the Son of God, but as the "holy and the true", presenting Himself as a standard of judgment as to everything inconsistent with Himself, and suiting Himself in grace to the condition and need of His faithful ones, and by His truth giving a means of judgment, and security of heart and confidence to the saints.

• And we also find Him disposing of means in favour of the church, in such a way that, if He opens a door, none can shut it, or if He shuts a door, none can open it.

• Thus there are the two things: He is the holy and the true, to those who trust in Him; and He has also, not here indeed the display of power, but the key of power – as Jehovah said of Eliakim to Shebna in Isaiah 22: 22:
  • "The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open".

• So that, where there is this weakness, He encourages the church to look to Himself as the holy and the true, and trust Him; and where there is this resting on His title to open and shut, and this trust in His Person, and conformity to His character, the church is perfectly secure, no matter what may happen.

• Let all the power of man or Satan do their worst, if I am resting in Christ, who is perfectly true, and He has opened a door, neither man nor devil can shut it.

How analogous is this position of the Philadelphian church to that of Christ when He was on the earth!

• Everybody sought to shut the door against Him; Pilate, Herod, Scribes, Pharisees, and the whole nation of the Jews were all trying to shut the door against Christ.

• Christ, like the Philadelphian church, was in the midst of an order of things which God had once instituted, but which had entirely failed; for in Christ's time there was no ark, no Urim and Thummim, no Shechinah – the glory of God's presence in the temple.

• All that had really constituted the sensible display of power and testimony was gone, and, instead of Jehovah having a throne in Jerusalem, they themselves had fallen under Gentile power and were slaves to man's throne. And hence arose the exceeding subtlety of the question the Jews put to our Lord.
  • "What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?"

• If the Lord had answered No, it would have been the denial of God's chastisement for their sins; and if He had said Yes, then it went to the denial of His title as Messiah.

• But – the Lord perceiving their wickedness – His reply to them amounted to this, 'You have brought yourselves under this dominion because of your sins, and therefore now you must submit to its authority'.
  • Not only "the powers that be are ordained of God",

• and as such we submit to them; but in Israel's case it would have been denying God's chastisement upon them for their sins – as it is said,
  • "we are slaves this day because of our sins".

So the Lord Himself submitted to paying the temple tribute.

• But though Israel, as a body, failed in their faithfulness to God, yet God could not fail in His faithfulness to them, for His Spirit remained among them, as we learn in Haggai; and therefore we find there was a little remnant in the Annas and Simeons, who were waiting for redemption in Israel – as it is said in Malachi,
  • "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another".

• Thus we see it was a condition of thorough darkness, and when He who was the Light comes in, He is at once rejected. Well, what then? Was the door shut to Him? No:
  • "to him the porter openeth".

• Christ came in at the door, not, like all the pretenders that came before Him, climbing up some other way; but while working in divine power Christ came in by God's own appointed way, and no man could shut it. He is become God's appointed way to us; He said of Himself,
  • "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved".

Whatever links our position with Christ, as an example and pattern, is in truth a blessing to us; for was there ever one that went through all with such unfailing, lowly faithfulness to God as He did?

• Note the contrast of His lowly path with that of Elijah's; and what do we see? Elijah was going on ministering with great outward power, bringing down fire from heaven to destroy the prophets of Baal, and thinking himself to be the only one that was left that was true to God; whereas God had seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal, whom Elijah had not found out.

• Christ was content to be nothing in a world where man was everything and God was shut out. He was content to be treated as the very offscouring of the earth; and yet, at the same time, there was not a single lost sheep of the house of Israel that His voice did not reach as the voice of the good Shepherd – let them be the vilest of sinners, a woman of Samaria, an adulteress, or a publican – that His eye did not discover.

• Thus, in virtue of His very humiliation, He puts those who now have but this "little strength" into the very same place which He Himself took, and then, as the porter did for Him, He opens the door for them, which none can shut.

We are waiting for the glory: "the glory thou hast given me I have given them";

• and while thus waiting we have to pass through that which has "Ichabod" written on it – the glory hath departed.

• The testimony of this dispensation in its public power is gone, never to be recovered.

• What the Lord is pressing upon them is, that they are not to suppose that the evil, such as that of Thyatira and Sardis, can be put in order; but He says,
  • "Behold, I come quickly! hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown";

• that is, keep the word of My patience till I come. Thus we find ourselves in circumstances analogous to Christ; for when the Lord says,
  • "Behold, I come quickly",

• it is to the end that we may get into greater likeness to Christ's position, and although trying and humbling, yet one of blessing, finding ourselves just in the same position which Jesus took, with the same promise – an open door which none can shut.

• This is present faith; it is not much strength that we want: the thing most needed is greater conformity to the position of Christ.

Observe another thing peculiar to this church of Philadelphia. The Lord does not set about canvassing their works, but leaves the heart of these poor weak ones satisfied with the consciousness that He knows them.

• To the other churches it was not so; He notices the character of their works.
  • To Sardis He said, "I have not found thy works perfect before God".

• But it is sufficient for us that He knows our works. O what a comfort it is, for if we had to look for perfection, as in Sardis, we should find it very troublesome to give in the account. The mixture of things, the little faith, would dismay us. In fact, none of our works have answered to the grace received.

• There is plenty of activity, there is much that man may approve, but taking the general character of service, how difficult to find that which God can approve!

• Then again, if we get occupied with the state of things in the world around us, and in the church of God itself, our hearts would sink within us, did we not fall back on this most blessed truth, that Christ knows all about it.

But then does He say that they have nothing? No; He says,

• "Thou hast kept my word".

• That which characterised Christ must be the characteristic of the church of God. Christ could say,
  • "Thy word have I hid in my heart";

• and this is especially the characteristic of faithfulness in the last days. Paul in writing to Timothy says,
  • "In the last days perilous times shall come",

• and there would be a terrible form of godliness without power; for even then the mystery of iniquity had come in,
  • "and evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse".

• But the safeguard is,
  • "but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures"

• – the plain written word, what we call the Bible, read from his youth. Security would not be in the manifestation of outward power, nor yet in miracles, but simply in the written word. This was the instrument of blessing; this the recognised authority with Timothy.

• Of course the grace of God was needed for his conversion. I refer to this now, as the keeping close to the word is the special security of these latter days – namely, the special authority of the word of God itself, just what Timothy, as a child, found in the Scriptures –
  • and added to this, of course with Timothy, was that which he had learned from the apostles, equally inspired, and which was thus a known immediately – divine authority in a person "of whom", says the apostle, "you have learned it",

• and which since has become the written word to us. The written word of God is where all our security lies through grace.

The Lord does not say 'You have strength', but "You have kept my word"; and then further He does not say 'You have known me in this or that character', but "You have not denied my name".

• The Lord's name means always the revelation of what He is; as if He be called Christ, He is the Anointed One. The Lord is here saying, that as you have stuck fast to Me as revealed, now I will make them which have a false name and pretences
  • "to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee".

  Here we get the two characters contrasted; and also mark the emphasis on the word "My": it is Christ's word upon which I am called to rest; "My word" – the word of Christ Himself, to come in personal communion with Christ Himself – not even the church's word.

• Suppose, for instance, I take the church's word, that is, to assume that the church has authority; but if I take Christ's word, then I have the authority of Christ Himself; and it is by the word of Christ that I must judge everything about the church itself.

• And the word of Christ connects us with Christ, His name and Person; and these are the two things which are especially essential for us to have, to enable us to walk contrary to the seductions which we know are peculiar to the last days. It is seductive power which characterises these times,
  • "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse".

  • "These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you".

In speaking in a general way of the character of the times, we look for seductive power.

• There will be a distinct and definite Antichrist, who will shew it in another way, but
  • "even now there are many Antichrists"; therefore we have

  • "earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints".

• If he, whose coming is after the power of Satan, with signs and lying wonders, shall prevail against those who
  • "receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved",

• we have need to hold fast that which will guard us against him who will come in as an angel of light; but it is those who have not received the love of the truth who fall into his snares.

• And this safeguard we have in the word of Christ Himself – keeping the word of His patience, and not denying His name.

• It must be an individual thing, for seductive power, having come in, marks the times in which we live to be "perilous times", not by open persecution and the like; but as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so our minds are in danger of being corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.

• And what have we to deliver us from this? Is it the outward manifestation of power, miracles, etc.? No, we have no outward power wherewith to meet Satan, we are weakness itself –
  • "thou hast a little strength";

• but our safeguard is in this, each soul individually for itself, holding fast the written word of Christ, and not denying His name.

It seems not much to say of them, "Thou hast kept my word and hast not denied my name", for there was not much done by them.

• But, dear friends, when the seductive power of evil was there it was saying everything of them; when all that was going on was to the setting aside of the written word, they kept it; and when everything went to the denial of Christ's name, they did not deny His name.

• That which is a great thing in God's sight is, not the calling down fire from heaven as Elijah did, but the being faithful amidst surrounding unfaithfulness.

• So likewise it did not seem to be saying much for the seven thousand who did not conform to the gross act of worshipping Baal, merely to say that they had "not bowed the knee to Baal", but it was, in truth, saying everything for them, because they were surrounded by all those who did bow the knee to Baal.

• So likewise the church of God was at first set up in power, but tares were plentifully sown among the wheat, and that which marks out the faithful ones is simply this, that when the seductive power of evil comes in, they are not seduced and led away by it.

• It is not in the manifestation of outward power, but simple faithfulness in walking with God in the midst of evil. Thus in the church of Philadelphia there was faithfulness of walk which gave them inward power, although no outward display of power.

"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie".

• Here we find this individual faithfulness in a secret walk with God, contrasted with those who cling to something established, where there was abundance of form, a fair show in the flesh, boasting themselves to be Jews, and attempting to set up again that which used to be the outward characteristic of the people of God, not seeing that "new" thing which God had now set up, and which now puts the heart to the test.

• They do not reject the word of God – the Jews did not either – but it is not God's word that governs them. The Jews received the Scriptures, but they rejected Christ, and killed Him; as Jesus Himself said,
  • "They will put you out of the synagogue".

• Nor was it without the notion that they were serving God in doing so:
  • "The time cometh that he that killeth you will think that he doeth God service".

• But this was pure rejection of the light God sent:
  • "And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father nor me".

• Any old truth which has gained credit in the world so as to be accounted orthodox, fails to put the heart to the test. It accredits nature: one is esteemed for it. If I can take religion and accredit myself with it, instead of having the heart put to the test by it in the exercise of faith, I may be quite sure that it is not the religion of God. Though it may be the truth as far as it goes, it is not faith in God.

• That is what this synagogue of the Jews were doing. They were setting aside Christ's name and Christ's word, for that which could be rested upon where there was no heart for Christ. Tradition, ordinances, ancestry, etc., were the things they loved, and not the word of Christ for themselves.

• It is quite true that the Jews had been God's people; but they had rejected and trampled under feet the name of Christ. And this is what makes all the difference; for now that Christ has been manifested what God is looking for is faithful obedience to His Son.
  • Faithful adherence to Christ now is everything.

"I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee".

• God did not own these pretenders to religious antiquity as His people. All they would get was just to know that Christ had loved this poor despised remnant: "To know that I have loved thee!"

• See now what the heart has to be satisfied with – not the present acknowledgment from those who profess to know God, while in works they deny Him, but the calm, settled confidence that Christ loves it.

• This it is which puts the heart to the test. If you want present enjoyment, bright pictures set before the mind, taste gratified, imagination fed, men gained, something of "reverend antiquity"; Christ is not in any of these things.
  • "He is the same yesterday, today, and for ever";

• and He Himself is the Truth – "holy and true". And if we have the love of Jesus as a present thing in our souls, we have all we want in Him.

There are plenty of people asking, What is truth? With such these pretensions may have weight.

• The synagogue of Satan may be religion, ancient, and reverend, full of gorgeous attractions, and what has authority over the flesh – and accepted for us by those who, like Pilate, asked What is truth? and then crucified Jesus, who is the Truth, to please the priests of the day.

• The character of these last days is just this, that men are always seeking, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. I have no need to be asking, what is truth, if I have it; what a man seeks he has not got. A man that is always hunting after truth acknowledges by his actions that he has not got it.

• Christ said, I am the truth; He is the centre of all truth, and is the ground of everything that connects us with God. An infidel will raise doubts about everything, but establishes nothing; but we want something that is certain. The moment we have the Person of Christ, we have the Truth:
  • "no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him".

• Do I want to know what God is? what man is? I get in Christ a perfect picture of what God is to man, and what He is as a man to God. It is all in Christ: of course we have to advance in the knowledge of it.

• The heart that has Christ wants not the synagogue of Satan; the heart that has received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true. The soul knowing this is in the simplest way kept from evil. I have got grace too as well as truth –
  • "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ".

When I was living in a lie, it was grace that brought the truth to my mind; and what can a soul want more?

• It has sorrow indeed, by reason of the defiled place through which it is now passing; but there is no more uncertainty about its portion, it has got all in Christ. There is nothing wanting to add to the secret blessing.
  • "I will make them to come and worship before thy feet" – that is, in the sense of doing homage – "and to know that I have loved thee".

• We know it now, not as deserving it indeed, for it is all of grace; but we have the present enjoyment of it through Christ's presence. We know that love of Christ which passes knowledge indeed, and the Father's love too; as He says,
  • "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them".

• The world does not know it now, but in that day the world shall know that the Father loved us as He loved His Son. When the heart gets hold of this love of Christ to it, it rests there; it is satisfied with the present enjoyment of Christ's love, although those around know nothing of the approbation it conveys to the heart.

• The Lord is now in various ways weaning our hearts from everything around us, in order that we may find, in the testimony of His personal love to us, that which strengthens our faith, settles the conscience, and guides the heart.

• Christ says, "I am the door", and that is the warrant for the sheep following Him out. In the time of Christ there was the Jewish order of things which God had set up; and there was no warrant for getting out of this Jewish system until Christ went out; but the heart, drawn and attached to Christ, had the special warrant of going after Him outside the established system –
  • "following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth".

In this church of Philadelphia we have the promise which met the hope which the faithful had of being with Christ in glory. Identification with Him in His position connects them with Himself, and with the word of His patience.

• They had not all the professing church of one mind with them; and they were not yet enjoying the full result of His love – not having Christ personally and fully present with them, I mean – and if Christ's love is to be the guide of my conduct, what the heart wants is, that Christ should be with it, for if we love a person we surely want to be with him.

• But having Christ in our hearts, we are keeping the word of His patience. Such is a trying, sifting, purging, exercising time, no doubt, but we must wait. And mark, further, how this blessed identification and connection with Himself is kept up all through, as it is not simply the word of patience, but "My patience".

• And why "My patience"? Because Christ is still waiting – see Psalm 110; and it is this which determines all our conduct, for if Christ is waiting we must wait also. Christ has to wait in a state of expectancy, so to speak, in the exercise of patience, for the Father's time; and it is in this sense, I doubt not, that He is said not to know the time which the Father hath put in His own power.

• Christ has done all that was needed for His friends to present them to God, and is set down at the right hand of God,
  • "expecting till his foes be made his footstool".

• Christ is waiting until He gathers in all His friends before He does, as He says, His "strange work" on the earth, in dealing with His foes. And hence this word of "My patience" is just what is needed, for we are waiting for that day of which Christ tells us – John 14,
  • "I will come again and receive you unto myself".

We see all creation groaning around us, waiting for that day; and we too groan within ourselves, waiting for the redemption of the body; but all is in disorder till then. Where are the Jews,

• "still beloved for the fathers' sake"?

• They are as vagabonds and wanderers upon the face of the whole earth, without priest, without teraphim, without anything, as a teil tree and an oak when it has cast its leaves, though the Lord is working among them.

• If I look at the world all is sin and misery. If I look at every created thing it is groaning.

• Look at what calls itself the church: the universal cry is, 'Who will shew us any good' – who is satisfied with anything? I do not speak thus in the bad sense of dissatisfaction; but there is nothing on which the soul can rest.

• It is no matter: take whatever system you will. The general feeling is, that all the foundations of the world are out of course. The raven indeed may go and light upon some dead floating carcase; but the dove can find no rest for the sole of her foot, save in the ark.

And what have we in the midst of the dense darkness of the night on which to rest our souls? Nothing but the certain expectation of the coming of the bright and morning Star.

• How long will Christ be waiting till He can deal in judgment, and when can He do this? When He has got His friends with Him, then He begins to act in the character of Judge, not indeed that He will at once cut them all off, but then it is that He will take to Himself His great power.

• What He is specially waiting for is, that those who have His portion should be with Himself and as Himself. We are predestinated to be conformed to His image.
  • "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied",

• when He gets His bride with Himself and as Himself. If the mighty man, the mystic man, the man-child of Revelation 12 is to act, He must first be complete – of course He is so, essentially so, in Himself, but as Head over all things to the church which is His body.

• The head and the body must be united before He can act as having this title before the world; because the mystic man as a whole cannot take it until the church is. taken up to Him. For not until then – until the church, the body, is united to the Head, Christ, in heaven – is the mystic man in that sense complete; and therefore, the church must be taken up before Christ can come in judgment.

What is the great hindrance to the full blessing of the church now?

• All from the beginning have failed: Adam, man before the flood, Noah, man under law.

• Then take Christianity – how have the tares been sown among the wheat! Priesthood, through the influence of Satan, taking the place of Christ, and our union with Him.

• After this – summed up in the final apostasy, the acting of judicial power to set aside the evil begins.

• The first act of power, when the mystic man is complete, will be to cast Satan and his angels down – Revelation 12:9 – to cast them out of heaven; and they are never seen there any more at all, but they are cast down into the earth; and then the devil has great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time; and, in his great rage, he stirs up all things in his full character of adversary against the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Then the Lord will come with His saints to execute judgment upon the earth. He must set things to rights by removing the evil. And as soon as His enemies are made His footstool, then He brings in the fulness of blessing.

• But we must keep in mind that the judgment is consequent upon the association of the church with Christ. The mystic man must be complete, in that sense of it, before He can execute judgment. Then Christ takes an entirely different character.

• Until He takes us up into the glory, He is presented as a Saviour – and even then, there will be doubtless – after the church's removal – a saved remnant. But then the acceptable time is ended; and then in
  • "righteousness he doth judge and make war".

• And when He comes forth thus, we shall fully understand why it is the word of His patience now; for till then, till He take unto Him His great power and reign, we are linked with Him in heart and mind in the word of His patience; and the blessing of this to us is our association with Christ Himself, the perfect linking up with Christ in all things.

• As a Man – not at all touching the divine glory of His Person, but as taking the official character of a servant – Christ has to wait until God in His good pleasure puts all things under His feet; and this, I doubt not, as I have said, is the meaning of the words –
  • "of that day knoweth no man, neither the Son, but the Father".

• But thus linked up with Christ, and having His present love as the satisfying portion of the soul, we had rather wait and have it with Him, than have it before Him.

• Thorough association with Christ Himself is the proper character of the church of God; for it is not merely that it is blest, but that it is associated with Him who blesses.

• We are His bride: this is our proper place; and whenever we descend from this, we get away from the full power of God's thoughts of love about us and about what He has made Christ to be for us.

Whatever is said of Christ in the day of glory, we find the church is associated with Him in it all – in His Melchisedec character, for instance, the highest place in authority as King, and the nearest in worship as Priest: we also are made kings and priests.

• Eve was associated with Adam in the dominion; but there was nothing in the whole creation which could have had this place. As it is written,
  • "for Adam there was not a help-meet found for him";

• but when Eve, as the bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, was brought to him he could say,
  • "This is now," [now, this time, for that is the force of the original] "bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh".

• There was a help meet found for him. This is equally true of the Lord and the church, for He can say, 'now this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh', and can rejoice and delight in the production of His own love.

• The Lord forbid that we should sink down from this our true place; and may He give unto us a deep and abiding sense of our being thus linked up in full blessed association with Himself; for the heart of Christ could not be satisfied without it, and neither should ours.

• It is not a question of our worthiness – for in ourselves, as in flesh, we are vile sinners – but of Christ's affection.

• True humbleness is not to think evil of ourselves, but not to think about ourselves at all. But, mark, it is a much harder thing to forget self, than even to have evil thoughts about self. If we are not humble, we must be humbled.

"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee …".

• The Lord says, If I own you as keeping "the word of my patience", and not as having any strength, but as in connection with myself, then "I will keep thee …". Thus He connects us with Himself, a poor feeble folk though we be, like the conies who were but a feeble folk, yet made their nest in the rock.
  • "I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come on all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth".

• Now as regards the consequences, what a comfort is here! It was not a question of strength at all, but of being kept from a terrible time that was coming, "to try them that dwell upon the earth". These last words describe the moral condition of a class.

Do you suppose that God takes pleasure in afflicting His people? No, in truth He does not want to put you into temptation;

• but if you have got into a position in which you are mixed up with these dwellers on the earth, upon whom the hour of temptation is coming, you must be dealt with to be delivered from that on which that dreadful hour is coming.

• The gospel is preached now, and is taking out souls from the world; and the whole thoughts, feelings, desires, and affections of the saints should be looking out for the day of glory.

• And if they have got into Christ's place of patience, they do not want sifting as the world does; but if they are mixed up with the world, they must be sharers in the troubles of the hour of temptation which is coming to try those who dwell upon the earth, or practically sifted before to be rescued from it.

• A time is coming when the beast will blaspheme those that dwell in heaven, but he cannot touch them.

• When we know our heavenly character, it makes us strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, instead of dwelling here, and seeking our portion here; but those who are dwellers here must come into this hour of temptation which is coming to try those who dwell on the earth.

• And mark here, that this is a distinct thing from the tribulation spoken of in Matthew 24. That time of trouble is confined to Jerusalem;
  • as it is said in Jeremiah, "it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it".

• But here, this is a time of trouble,
  • "which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth".

• Those who have kept the word of Christ's patience now, He will keep from that time. If the Lord is now getting fruit from them in a way which this temptation is intended to produce, then there will be no need for them to be tried by it.

But now, see how He encourages them: "Behold, I come quickly",

• as if He should say, 'You must go on' bearing My lot in patience, and in the cross too, if you will share My lot and glory; but "I come quickly".

• It is not His coming, as presented to Sardis, as a thief in the night; but what Christ would press upon the church now is, that His return is a speedy thing.

• He does not tell them the moment, but puts His coming before them as their comfort, joy, and hope, and thus fixes the heart upon Himself; as it is not so much that He is coming quickly, but that it is Himself that is coming,
  • "I, Jesus …".

• Oh! if the heart has tasted God's love, what comfort it is after all to rest in Himself, as at the close of this book. After Christ has led the mind of the church through those things which He is going to do on earth, then He brings back the heart of the church to Himself – "I, Jesus".

That which characterises the church of Philadelphia is its immediate connection with Himself; it is Christ Himself who is coming.

• It is neither knowledge nor prophecy that can satisfy the heart; but the thought that Jesus is coming to take me to Himself is the blessed hope of one who is attached to Him by grace.

• Prophecy concerns Christ's coming to the earth; but my going to Christ is the proper and blessed hope of one united to Christ by faith.

• I solemnly respect and reverence God's warning about coming judgment, etc.; but it is not a matter of affection. God's purposes about Jerusalem, Babylon, etc., of which prophecy speaks, are most important and instructive to the mind; but the affections are not drawn out by knowing about the doom of Babylon, and Antichrist.

• I love Christ; therefore I long to see Him. But prophecies of coming judgment do not connect the spirit and heart with the Person of the Lord Jesus.

Then we have this warning: "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown".

• Oh! may the Lord give us to keep His word, and to be looking for Him as a present thing. If the devil could take away the hope of the Lord's coming as a present thing, this would be taking away our hope and crown.

• No man or devil can take away anything from us, if we have but that clear sense of faith which connects us with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as a present thing.

• To lose this is to lose spiritual power; and anything that robs us of spiritual power in our association with Christ, is to rob us of present blessing, and of that which is the path towards our crown.

• And, beloved brethren, we are now going through every kind of thing that is likely to rob us of our crown – everything which puts faith in a coming Jesus to the test, and calls it in question.

In the case of the ten virgins, they all slumbered and slept; the wise were as fast asleep as the foolish, and at midnight, when the cry was made,

• "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!"

• they all rose and trimmed their lamps. There was no difference in this respect; but the one had the oil of the Spirit, the other not; and between the cry going forth and the actual coming of the Bridegroom, there was plenty of time for the lamps to be going out if not supplied with oil; and hence the manifest difference between the virgins was in the supply of oil which they had.

• If the first thought in the hearts of the foolish virgins had been the Bridegroom Himself, they would have been thinking of the light that He would want when He came; but they were occupied with other things, satisfied with merely keeping company with the virgins.

• The dress, and the lamps without the oil, would suffice to place them among the company; but alas! without the oil they could not keep their lamps burning for their Lord till He came. Still, there were those who were fitted to receive Him,
  • "and when the Bridegroom came, they that were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut".

• And so it is with us. The cry has gone forth, and between this and His actual coming the Lord is testing us whether our hearts are set upon Him or not.

We have now only time left to consider the promise: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God…".

• Here we see how definitely all the promises are connected with the time of glory – the "new Jerusalem" – here the heart is lifted up into its own proper dwelling-place. Are we taking the position of heavenly dwellers while walking this earth?

• Remark in how thorough a manner the saints are connected with the heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling-place of him that overcometh. He shall be in God's temple, in contrast with the synagogue of Satan, in the full enjoyment of the things of God – every purpose of His love fully brought out.
  • "Him will I make a pillar".

• He who was a faithful but weak one in the earth, when the professing church was great but not fulfilling the purpose of God as the
  • "pillar and ground of the truth",

• shall then be the very pillar of strength, and that the very strength of God, because there had been firmness against the power of seduction.

It is always "my God". Throughout Christ keeps up this connection with Himself.

• He was once in appearance the weak one on the earth; He says, 'I have been rejected and you have taken the place of rejection with Me, and I know you have been faithful to Me; I go to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God'.
  • He is the patient One who waits the Father's time for the glory which is due to Him, and we have part in His patience.

"I will write upon him the name of my God", the way in which Christ as a man knows God:

• 'You shall have that name publicly set upon you, as you have not denied My name down here – "the city of my God", waited for in faith; this is your place'.

• Abraham looked for a city, whose builder and maker was God. It was a heavenly city they wanted for themselves on the earth, even when the flesh had built one here. This heavenly citizenship shall then be stamped upon the faithful, in the city of the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the stranger on the earth.

• If men are looking for an ecclesiastical stability, a present establishment of things, they can have it now; but then it is not according to God's word:
  • if content to walk simply with Christ now, waiting until God owns a city as His – "the city of my God" – they shall have it then: it comes down out of heaven from God.

• When Charles II was away from his country, those who were attached to his person felt themselves strangers in the land while their master was absent. And so it is with the Christian now; he belongs to Christ; he is a child of the day, waiting for Christ and the day of His appearing.

"My new name". It is not the old name of Messiah, but His wondrous new name, taken as the result of a heavenly redemption. We shall have what is stable then, though we have it not now in one sense.

May the Lord give us to know what it is to be really associated with Christ Himself, and to know this blessed thought of God about us,

• "that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace …".

• He has associated us with the object of all His infinite delight – His eternal delight; for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones, and therefore have the privilege and portion of Jesus Himself.

May God keep our hearts untainted by this present evil world and in freshness of affection to Himself. This can only be by keeping in communion with Christ Himself.

• To know our portion in Him, to know the value of His name, gives courage and strength to keep His word and not deny His name.

I had thought and hoped to have closed our consideration of this portion of scripture last evening; but I am not sorry now that time then forbade it, as I feel very strongly the importance of this last address to Laodicea.

• And it will give me the opportunity of taking up more generally what we have been going through in connection with the testimony of the word of God to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

• We see in this address to the church of Laodicea, that it is threatened with final and complete judgment, without any possibility of escape whatever.
  • It is not indeed that it has yet arrived at the full consummation of evil; for if it had, where would be the use of warning it?

• This church of Laodicea, as all the other six churches before, is addressed as having the character of the church of God – that is, as holding before God the position of acknowledged testimony of Him for the world – and as such it is threatened with rejection. This is important in connection with other parts of scripture.

• It is not the history of that which has been accomplished, but the warning and threat of that which is coming. Hence its character is prophetical. And as the whole book of Revelation is judgment, so likewise, in these addresses to the churches, we get the judgment of the professing church, standing under God's eye, as holding this position.

• And I would here recall to your memory what I have said before, and what it is important to remember, that what is before us in all these churches is not the work of God's grace in itself; for these addresses to the churches would have no place if it were –
  • nor yet Christ the Head of the body, as the source of grace to the members –

  • nor yet is it the work of the Spirit of God, as that of course is never the subject of judgment; as also the grace which flows down from the Head to the members can never fail.

• This can never be the subject either of warnings or threatenings.

It is the condition and state of the church which is here shewn forth, as holding the place of responsibility under the eye of God, and the consequent dealings of Christ with it, in the expectation of fruit.

Further, these addresses are not to individuals, but to churches; still there is a great deal to be gathered from these addresses by individuals who have an ear, through the instruction of the Holy Ghost: I trust that we even now have gathered a little of such instruction.

• The promises also are to individuals, "to him that overcometh" in the midst of evil circumstances, but the dealing is with the body.

It is not then the supply of the Spirit of grace from the Head, nor yet the directions through the Spirit of the Father's love dealing with the children within,

• because that supposes the church to be in an accepted and healthy state, and gives them directions suited to that state, and answering to the purpose for which it was called into church position.

• In Laodicea there is that which cannot apply to individuals; you may give warning to individuals in the church of God,
  • "while the simple pass on and are punished".

• But this is not mere warning; excision is announced, and that can never apply to a saint of God.
  • "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth".

• It is the excision of the external professing body, which bears the name of the church, as such. This leads us to see the important truth of the responsibility of the professing church of God on the earth; therefore it is I am so glad of this opportunity of going over again the general principles connected with this.

"Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God".

• The character of Christ given here is remarkable. In the last three churches we have seen that Christ leaves, so to speak, the characteristics given of Him in chapter 1 – that is, He is not presented in any part of the character that He takes in chapter 1 – but we find a new special revelation of Himself according to the circumstances of the church addressed.

• It is not the same traits of character given of Him as those John had seen in the vision; it does not connect itself thus with the things "seen", but with "the things that are", in a new and distinct condition from that in which they had stood in their original relationship with Christ; and therefore, a fresh revelation of Christ is made for the need and occasion of the church.

In Philadelphia, Christ was not known in the same character in which He was known in Thyatira, as "Son over his own house", but fresh traits of His character were to be seized by the church for its particular need.

• From the same period of time, and even before, that is, from the time of the complete corruption of its original standing, the coming of the Lord is held out to the church.

• The saint could no longer occupy himself with the hope of the restoration of the church as a professing whole, and therefore the coming of the Lord is placed before it as its only resource, that the faithful remnant might look out for Him, finding in Christ that which they could lean upon and trust in, when the outward ground was slipping from under their feet.

• Those who had special faith in Jesus could not float on with the common stream of the thoughts of the church; for if they did, they would find themselves with Jezebel, or with Sardis, having a name to live and yet dead.

• Faith has need to be sustained in a peculiar manner, in order to keep me from the seductions of the "synagogue of Satan". Common grace will do when the church itself is in its place, but uncommon grace is needed to sustain the faithful when the church is not keeping its place.
  • If Jezebel be there, I cannot go on with common faith; Christ and falsehood cannot go on together.

  • If it be a name to live, being dead, I must have something special to sustain the life in me.

• Therefore, whether it be Jezebel seducing,* or Babylon corrupting, or Laodicea going to be spued out, I could not go on content with the moral state of things.
  [* Jezebel is the source of mischief within; Babylon corrupts the world; Laodicea is itself cast out as worthless.]

• Therefore I should need special grace suited to it, discerned by spiritual-mindedness alone, not being the natural relationship between Christ and the church as such. Of course we at all times need the sustaining grace of God, we cannot get on without it, as everyone knows; I need it – you need it – we all need it.

• But when that which bears the name of the church of God is nigh unto cursing, is going to be spued out, then a double measure and peculiar character of grace is needed to sustain the faithful ones in the narrow and often lonely path in which they will be called to walk.

• And mark here, when they had got into the Philadelphian state of things, with its little strength, and keeping Christ's word, and not denying His name, the coming of the Lord is brought in for the comfort of the faithful ones; and then the subject is dropped.

Now here, though the professing church still subsists in form, yet it is utterly rejected, and it is unconditionally declared that Christ will spue it out of His mouth. The judgment is not accomplished, but it is certain and assumed as such.

• And the reason why the coming of the Lord is dropped after Philadelphia is, that, the whole thing being morally gone and the subject of judgment, the Lord presents Himself as outside in Laodicea,
  • "Behold, I stand at the door and knock".

• If there are still saints within, the testimony to them is as from without the scene of which they make a part.

• In Philadelphia, all dealing with the saints as maintaining them in a place of testimony is closed; for the professing church had then become either Jezebel in corruption, or Sardis in death, so that it should be judged as the world; and the remnant had the testimony as keeping the word of Christ's patience, and are comforted by the assurance that Christ will come quickly

• Now they were to be content with the assurance that then the synagogue of Satan would know that Christ had loved them.

In the church of Philadelphia, the character of Christ's coming was put in its true and proper place. Looked at by the church, Christ's coming is for itself. Christ says, 'It is for you I am coming', and the church's hope is to see Himself.

• It is "you" and "myself", He says, that must be together, constituting the proper church character of hope and accomplished joy. Hence in chapter 22, after the Lord has gone through the whole prophecy,
  • He says, "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things, in the churches"

  • – "I am the bright and morning star";

• and the presentation of Himself awakens the cry to Him to come.

• He does not say, when warning men, "Behold, I come quickly".

• The Spirit and the bride say, "Come", and then, in heart-assuring reply,
  • He says, "Surely, I come quickly"; to which the church responds, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus".

• Thus it is very evident that the coming of the Lord to take the church unto Himself, must be something entirely between Himself and the church alone.

• But it will not be so with the remnant of Israel, for them the execution of the judgment will be needed, in order to their taking their place in the earth. In fact, the Lord's coming to the earth itself must be attended with the execution of judgment, gathering out of His "kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity".

• And it is evident that the deliverance of the remnant of Israel connects the coming of the Lord with the execution of judgment upon what despises Him before Israel can possibly get their blessing. And this accounts for the strong cry of vengeance we find throughout the Psalms; take Psalm 94 for instance,
  • "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself".

• Now we do not want vengeance in order to be with Christ in blessing. God has given us grace as our portion in every way, and we have to deal entirely with grace. I am not looking for the Lord to come and avenge me on my enemies, for I am expecting to be caught up to meet Him in the air.

• And, that it may be clearly understood, I would again remark, that throughout the whole Scriptures this cry, in connection with the Lord's coming to the earth, is the language of the remnant of Israel, and not the language of the church of God.

Take Psalm 68:23, "that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same".

• These are not the thoughts that occupy my soul in the contemplation of meeting Jesus in the air. If, through grace, I have bowed to the grace of the Lamb, then I have no connection whatever with that which will come under the wrath of the Lamb.

• It is Himself that I am expecting for the sake of what is in Himself apart from anything else.

• So also in the description of the future Jewish times of blessing in Isaiah 60: 12,
  • "The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish";

    while of the New Jerusalem it is said,

  • "The leaves of the tree shall be for the healing of the nations".

• Israel is the scene of God's righteous judgments; the church is the scene of God's sovereign grace; and it never gets out of this.

• For the church, as such, never calls for vengeance; it will see the righteousness of the vengeance when God shall avenge the blood of those who have suffered, and rejoice that corruption is destroyed; but its own portion is to be with Christ.

• The earth will be delivered through judgment; but our portion is to meet the Lord in the air, and to be for ever with Him.

The church of Philadelphia having its proper portion, the coming of the Lord, the subject of this blessed hope closes.

• In Laodicea, therefore, there is nothing about the coming of the Lord, although it remains true of course, but still it is not put before it.

• It is another thing which is in hand; and here the prophet character comes in, because the Lord is here speaking of that which was about to happen in judgment. He is going to judge the church itself.

• It is always the professing church He speaks of – we must remember – that which takes the place of the church of God, as the testimony for God in the world.

• And mark now the peculiar character Christ takes here; if the church, this vessel of testimony for God, this witness, is set aside by the Lord in disgust, then the Lord comes in Himself as the
  • "Amen, the faithful and true witness",

• not so much in the dignity of His Person, as shewn in chapter 1, but as the faithful and true witness –
  • "the beginning of the creation of God",

• as going to take the place of that which had so entirely failed as God's witness on the earth.

In James we see the purpose of God is, "that we" [the church] "should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures", and the church will have that place in the fulness of restored creation.

• But even now the church is called to have its own peculiar place, as having the firstfruits of the Spirit;
  • but looked at as in a position of testimony, the church has utterly failed, not holding, in the power of the Holy Ghost, this place of firstfruits of His creatures.

• For what are the fruits which mark that power? Are they not
  • "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance"?

• Do you see them in the professing church? No; and therefore it is, we say, that the professing church has failed to be this
  • "kind of firstfruits of God's creatures";

• for the professing church does not hold a place above the present state of creation or the world around it. Were a man to come to London from China, would he see these fruits of the Spirit in the professing church? or would he find the same covetousness, the same love of the world here in every way as in his own country?

• 'O', he might say, 'I could do all this in China. What Christians are doing in London – and true Christians too – I can do throughout China; though there may be a better and more refined way of carrying them out in London than in China'.

• But in China there are the same results; for what professed Christians are doing in London is also done in China, though it may be not so comfortably carried out as to the flesh, but quite as thoroughly as to the heart.

I do not believe that the professing church is yet fully ripened up into the final condition of Laodicea; if it were, there would be no use in warning it. God is holding the bridle, and does not yet allow the evil to be so fully developed.

• It was just as true in principle in Ephesus, the moment the church departed from her first love; but we do not find it developed till the Laodicean state, when Christ spues the whole thing out of His mouth.

• And remember it is the professing church that is thus spued out, and not the church of the living God, the body and bride of Christ.

• Nor is this excision a mere removal of the candlestick; for when it cannot be said of the professing church,
  • "Ye are not of the world, as I am not of the world",

• then, instead of its being the object of Christ's delight, it becomes – terrible to say – a disgust to Him:
  • "I will spue thee out of my mouth".

Nothing can be more solemn than the position the professing church will arrive at, to call forth such a statement on the part of the Lord.

• We find also in this another remarkable testimony to the successional character of these churches. In its general character, notwithstanding the special working of grace in detail, the professing church gets worse and worse, till it comes to that condition that it has to be spued out of Christ's mouth; and then
  • "a door is opened in heaven",

• and John is caught up there; Revelation 4. Then the judgment of the world commences, and the introduction of the Only Begotten to His earthly inheritance.

God has done with the church as a testimony, the moment Laodicea is spued out. And when the church has come to this entire state of failure,

• then Christ supplants it as the "faithful and true witness" of God.

• What the church should have done, Christ presents Himself as doing. Christ is the Great Amen of all God's promises; the church should have shewn how all the promises of God were Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus; but the church has not been able to do this; it has failed to put its amen* to God's promises.
  [* Amen means "firm verity and truth". See Isaiah 7: 9.]

  • "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established",

• that is, 'if you wilt not believe' [or amen, for it is the same word], 'ye shall not be established' [amened].

• The meaning is, if you will not confirm my promises, you shall not be confirmed. Of course there is not a thought of the possibility of God's failing in His purposes in Christ, and therefore the church, the body of Christ, will be in glory with its Head: but
  • if it is a question of testimony on the earth, then truly the church has not practically put its amen to the promises of God in Christ.

• For the church was called to manifest the power of its heavenly calling while walking on the earth; but it has not in its walk given the answer to that which God has affirmed.

• For we do not see the church giving the heavenly witness through the Holy Ghost, answering to the Lord Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God; and, therefore, as God cannot leave Himself without a witness, Christ immediately presents Himself as the
  • "Amen, the faithful and true witness",

• the Person who is going to seal up all the promises and prophecies, the One who puts the great amen to everything as the
  • "faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God".

• The professing church has failed; it contains within its pale a great mass of people that were never converted, bearing the name of Christ without possessing the life of Christ.

• But the failure commenced with the true church; it was through them that corruption crept in; they left their first love, and then, consequently, the world came in; as God says,
  • "I looked in the place of righteousness, and behold, iniquity was there".

• As is often said, 'the corruption of the best thing is the worst of corruptions'; so there is really nothing on the face of the whole earth so diametrically opposed to God, as professing Christianity.

"The beginning of the creation of God". Christ comes in here as the blessed witness that God will yet set up creation according to His own will, Christ Himself being the chief and centre of it all. See Proverbs 8.

• It is not the promise of Christ coming to take the church to Himself, as to Philadelphia, but Christ Himself taking the place of full and perfect testimony for God, and as the accomplisher of all God's promises, of which the church should have been the manifestation.

• In this character, Christ, as it were, supplants the church in the manifestation of the purposes and promises of God, which cannot fail. If the church be irrevocably gone, the witness remains, and that will be the stay of the faithful.

• Here it is that faith is sustained, even where evil is rising up like a flood; here is solid ground that nothing can touch, the strength on which the soul can stay supposing the church to be gone, for the stay of every soul is trusting in Him.

I would now refer to the general testimony in the word of God, as to the complete failure and consequent setting aside of that which ought to have borne testimony to Him, so that the honour, the power, and the glory shall redound to Christ and Christ alone.

• Man, as man, failed in that which was committed to him, and then we see Christ, the true Man, set up in the purposes of God; Psalm 8.

• The declaration of God is, that there will be the entire setting aside of all that has borne the name, title, and authority of God in the earth.

Take power, for instance, which was ordained of God to be in the hands of man, and who was thus in a certain sense the representative of God; so that, as Christians, we ought to own the powers that be, and submit to them as "ordained of God".

• "They were called gods unto whom the word of God came".

• "But they shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes".

• Now when God judges among the gods, what does this shew? They have utterly failed – it is the immediate judgment of God which is executed.

• As to power then in the hands of man, the little stone, cut out without hands, smites the image of Gentile power, which becomes as chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind carries it away, and no more place is found for it.

• Christ then, according to the purpose of God, takes the full power of the kingdom.

Mark what patience God is exercising during the progress of evil denoted in this image of Daniel.

• There are three distinct characters of the abuse of power in Babylon, seen in the three successional steps of evil – idolatry, profaneness, and self-exalting apostasy.

1. First, there was idolatry in Nebuchadnezzar setting up the statue of gold in the plains of Dura; setting up idolatry to have unity in a common religious influence.

2. Secondly, profaneness in Belshazzar, who brings out the vessels of God's captive temple.

3. Thirdly, apostasy in Darius, who set himself up to be God.

• God has long patience with all this, till at last, when power is headed up in positive and open rebellion against Christ, then God, rising up in the power of the stone cut without hands, dashes the whole thing to pieces, like a potter's vessel. Then the stone becomes a great mountain, filling the whole earth.

• Thus we see that the power that was at first given to man to be used for the glory of God, becoming corrupt in man's hand, is at the end used against God. And here Gentile power ceases in order to make way for Christ the great vessel of power and honour to God.

Take Israel under the law. Not only do they fail, fall on the stone and are broken, but the evil spirit of idolatry which had gone out of them, will take to himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in subjects them to this perfection of wickedness, and their last state will be worse than the first.

• That is, they will go on ripening in evil, till at last, when they openly join in idolatry and apostate wickedness, God will give them up as a nation, though a remnant will be spared. There is the same failure in the house of David.

As regards the church of God, there is much more difficulty in believing that there will be the utter and final rejection of it, although of course it is only of the professing church that this will be true.

• It is a solemn truth, when evil comes in at the beginning, that it goes on increasing and ripening until judgment comes; and mark, also, that judgment is not executed upon it until it is fully ripe –
  • "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full".

• This principle is fully and plainly set forth in the parable of the tares. The tares were sown at the beginning, but were not to be rooted up at once. Both the tares and the wheat were to grow together until the harvest.

• Thus the Lord declares positively that the mischief came in at the beginning, and would go on ripening till the execution of judgment.

• It is not a question of individuals, or whether the wheat will be all gathered into the garner – that of course it will be – but that the public testimony is spoiled. The crop was spoiled in the field; and that could not be remedied by man, for, looked at as a crop in the field, man is not competent to remedy it, for man is not competent to judge it.

• Besides, our business is grace and not the rooting up of tares.

Take 2 Thessalonians: the mystery of iniquity was working in the days of the apostles, but something hindered its full manifestation. And the very same iniquity is still working, even in this our day,

• "only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way";

• but the evil will still continue working until open and apostate rebellion will terminate in the full execution of judgment.

Take the Book of Revelation. Without entering into the detail, there is a broad, plain evident testimony to what would be the end of the whole dispensation:

• "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet", chapter 16: 13.

• Persons may discuss what these frogs may be, but one thing is quite clear, that they are some power of evil going forth to the kings of the earth to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, to fight against God.

• Thus things are ripening up to the fullest manifestation of evil; and when iniquity has arrived at the full, then a great voice from the throne will say,
  • "It is done",

• and judgment then immediately follows. We get something that comes more home to ourselves, although it is applied to the professing church directly.

Before the introduction of that perfect state of good connected with the power and reign of Christ, we see all the different threads of evil drawing together for one common judgment.

• Man, in his character of open rebellion, setting up to be God Himself, must be judged.

• Then Israel is in association with the apostate power, returning to idolatry, from which Abraham their father had been called out; identifying themselves with the apostate Gentiles, and saying,
  • "We will have no king but Caesar".

• Therefore, having by their sins sold themselves to Caesar, they must go back to Caesar again, and associate in evil with the Gentiles, and finally be judged with them,
  • while an election inherits the blessing.

• As to the Jewish nation itself, we read in Isaiah 66 of its thorough departure – "eating swine's flesh".

Then there is the Babylonish corruption of Christianity; for the character of Babylon is that of idolatrous corruption, and it will be destroyed in the same way. All the evil will then be arrived at its height.

• The woman that rides the scarlet-coloured beast, the mother of harlots, the full results of Jezebel's seduction; the beast, which is power; the false prophet; man in rebellion; Christianity in apostasy; the word of God set aside; the law departed from; grace despised:
  • all these varied forms of evil are found drawing together and coalescing, and will be in the end the one common object of judgment – the evil being thus altogether set aside that there may be nothing left but good.

Is the professing church exempt from all this judgment? Certainly not. Although the wheat will all be safely gathered into the garner, yet, if we take the word of God as our guide, we cannot for one moment suppose that the professing church can be exempt from this general judgment.

Take Jude, who in writing to the saints, says, it was needful that he should exhort them to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to them; and why? Because

• "there are certain men crept in unawares; ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ".

• "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds".

• But where were these false brethren found? In the church of God, as Jude says,
  • "These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you".

• They were not found among the Jews, nor yet among the heathen, but in the church of God, corrupting it,
  • "feeding themselves without fear".

• God has most graciously allowed that there should be a distinct manifestation of every spring and form of evil that could ever possibly arise before the canon of Scripture was closed; that we might have the judgment of the written word of God on every evil as it arises.

• And without this we should not be able to detect the exceeding subtlety of the mystery of iniquity which is still working on, but, having the written word as our guide, as God's children we are called on to judge everything by that alone.

Again in 2 Timothy 3, "In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers …",

• their false piety being made manifest by being
  • "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God", and also

  • "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof".

• And mark that it is not mere Judaism that is meant here, although the spirit of Judaism be at work. And it is also added,
  • "that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived".

• Then the apostle – having taken up the varied characteristics of those false brethren who
  • "have crept in unawares",

• which characteristics also serve as a guide to us – winds up the whole by saying to Timothy,
  • "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus";

  • for "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works".

• Thus we learn, in Paul's instructions to Timothy, that the only sure and safe standing-place of the man of God, in this day of increasing iniquity, is the holy Scriptures; and that, in the plain godly use of them, as he and his mother and grandmother, pious women, had studied them – the very same holy Scriptures he had read from his youth.

• It is not authority or power – not even the power of the Spirit of God – that the saint can trust to for guidance, apart from the simple written word of God.

We learn, then, from these scriptures to which we have been referring, that the immediate occasion, object, and inner spring of all the terrible judgment which is coming, is the professing church itself.

• It ought to have been God's witness on the earth, Christ's epistle known and read of all men; but, having become corrupt, it is this professing church that primarily and definitely brings down the wrath of God.

• Oh! beloved friends, there cannot be a more solemn subject than this, that not only will Israel and the beast fall under judgment, but, according to God's own word, the professing church will come under the same condemnation.

• I apply the word 'church' here to Christendom, that which professes to bear the name of Christ.

There is the same testimony in John's epistle, "Even now are there many Antichrists".

• I have no doubt but that the Antichrist will arise among the Jews, and he will be a full manifestation of that spirit of Antichrist which even now denies the Father and the Son, and also denies that Jesus is the Christ.

• It is indeed most fearful to think of that apostasy bearing a religious character as it does; that which characterises the many Antichrists is the denial of Christian truth, and though there will be a full apostasy, still it will be an apostasy from the doctrines of Christianity.

• How soon did the spirit of it come in! how very soon was there cause to say, that
  • "all men seek their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ!"

• May the Lord graciously open the eyes of His saints, to see the tone and real character of these last evil days, and to remember, that though He has had long patience while He is gathering out souls for salvation, and in this sense to
  • "account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation"

• – that His judgment, though delayed is not changed; for the word is gone forth out of His mouth, and the only remedy for the present evil is in judgment.

From the very beginning we see the principles of corruption coming in. The testimony for God failed. The tares were sown, thus the crop was spoiled in the field; the mystery of iniquity was working.

• In the address to Laodicea we find the Lord shewing the evil principles which came in at the beginning producing the double character found in Laodicea. The object for which the seed had been sown in the field was spoiled. Instead of being witness for God, the church says,
  • "I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing".

• Thus we find there are two points of special importance as characterising this church of Laodicea – great pretension to spiritual riches in itself, and neither hot nor cold as regards Christ.

• First, there is great pretension to spiritual riches; but then as to life, they had the form of it, but not the power –
  • "thou art neither cold nor hot".

  • It is not positive hatred to Christ, but it is not positive zeal for Christ.

• It is the church going on in outward comfort and worldliness, and at the same time making great pretensions to spiritual riches, which is a sure sign of poverty; for, whenever we see such great profession to possess within itself the riches of God, we shall be sure to find poverty.

• And why? Because those riches can only be found in Christ. When the church says,
  • "I am rich and increased in goods" [making itself the vessel of grace instead of Christ] "and have need of nothing",

• it boasts of riches within itself. Thus in so doing, it neither puts its "amen" to the promises of God in Christ Jesus, nor is it the true and faithful witness for God.

• The church ceases to be this, directly it looks away from Christ as the only source; and when it takes itself to be the vessel of riches, it then necessarily becomes a false witness instead of a true one.

• For the moment I say the church is all this or that, or the church is what I am looking at and not Christ, the eye is completely taken off Christ to the church; I am looking to it instead of to Him, however much I may pretend to honour Him.

• The faithfulness of God is not the question here, but our failure. This is of the last importance as guarding against deception.

In Philadelphia they were not possessing all that they were endowed with in Christ: they had but a little strength, and all that the Lord could say of them was, that they had kept His word, and had not denied His name.

• While there was felt poverty in the church, Christ was delighting in them, and could say, I am for you, and I am coming for you.
  • "I will make them of the synagogue of Satan to know that I have loved thee".

• But directly there is the pretension to riches in itself, when the church is taking riches and accrediting itself with them, instead of Christ's delighting in it, there is an expression of positive disgust –
  • "I will spue thee out of my mouth".

• And if we look at the professing church at the present day, we shall see how it is getting into this state, rich in itself.

• When I find but very little strength, while the word is kept and His name not denied, then I can say, 'Cheer up; the Lord is coming soon'.

• For acknowledging I am poor and have but little strength is not necessarily unbelief in Christ; it is not necessarily denying what we have in Him for our use when we lean upon Him for strength because we have none. It is the body drawing the fulness from the Head.

• But when I find in a church this thought of fulness and riches in itself, then I say, You are going on towards Laodicea, whose end is to be spued out of Christ's mouth. The church of Laodicea having the thought of fulness and riches within herself, was perfectly ignorant of her state before God –
  • "Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked".

• Therefore, says the Lord,
  • "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see".

The church was not looking to the Lord for these, and, therefore, was wanting in every one of them.

• Gold is divine righteousness – the great contrast to human righteousness – and is that which characterises the standing and riches and foundation of the saints.

• "The white raiment" is the works of the saints, which are the fruits of believing in divine righteousness. They are consequent upon the possession of divine righteousness.

• Human righteousness is quite a distinct thing from the righteousness of saints; for the righteousness of saints flows from hearts set at liberty by divine righteousness If we look at the Faquir in India, or the Dervish in Turkey; we find plenty of works, but never anything that is founded on redemption.

• The works of the Spirit flow out from the Spirit which has been the seal of divine righteousness to the soul; these saintly works are the fruits of the Holy Ghost in us. Here, then, is the "white raiment", which those at Laodicea were lacking.

• Therefore, they had not got even the righteousness of saints, for, being without divine righteousness, they could have no practical spiritual righteousness, no saintly works; as it is said that the
  • "fine linen is the righteousness of the saints".

• They were also wanting in "eye-salve"; for they were as blind as nature could be to the things of God, and without spiritual discernment in anything, and yet they were saying, "We see": therefore their sin remained.

• Thus, having neither divine righteousness nor the consequent fruits of the Spirit, and still remaining in the blindness of nature, Laodicea wanted everything. There was abundance of pretension, while all that was real before God was wanting, and all that was fictitious was there.

But the Lord does not yet give up all dealing with them; but here in Laodicea the Lord takes an outside character; for when the nominal church has got practically into a Jewish position, then the Lord takes His stand outside, and calls to individual souls that are within:

• "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice".

• The Lord desires to gain attention; He wants to be admitted. He warns the church of what is coming upon it – of positive judgment; but until that judgment is executed, He goes on necessarily in the exercise of His own blessed grace.

• But its objects are individual, for the church is given up.
  • "If any man will open the door, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me";

• he will have his portion at my table.
  • "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne".

Now, mark, this is apparently a great promise; but to me it seems the very least, as it is merely a place in the heavenly glory.

• They are told of no special association with Christ, such as we find in the promise to Pergamos, or even to the faithful in Sardis or in Thyatira. Nor is any thought of individual nearness, exclusively the portion of the bride, revealed as a motive.

• Reigning with Christ is merely the public display of reward and glory, which is a very different thing from the secret intimacy of the "hidden manna", and the "white stone".

• The knock was heard, and through grace obeyed; and they go up to heavenly glory. They have overcome, and, therefore, surely they must have their reward,
  • "to sit with me on my throne".

• These also have their part in the "first resurrection", and, as such, they reign with Christ. But as much might be said of the two witnesses. They went up, and their enemies beheld them. They sit on thrones; they have their reward, but the reward just amounts to the fact, that they have got their place in the glory.

• But there is not the same intimacy, there is not the special delight, there is not the Philadelphian joy of Christ having the church for the sake of herself, and the church having Christ for the sake of Himself. Still they get their place in the glory.

The solemn testimony of the Lord is, that the professing church is to be spued out of His mouth; and this ought to come home with more sorrow in our hearts than the judgment of the world,

• having a much more terrible character to the heart than the judgment of Antichrist himself, because it is something that disgusts Christ – that is nauseous to Him – from its having had a kind of outward connection with Himself.

• And hence the importance of this, if we think of that in the midst of which we are. And in speaking of the professing church in the day in which we live, I mean what is commonly called Christendom, bearing the name of Christ, but in works denying Him.

• We find Christ's heart, thoughts, and nature, utterly rejecting that as disgusting which had been professing to be standing in connection with Himself.

There will be at the close much more connection between Judaism and nominal Christianity than people generally suppose. The lamb with two horns, the false prophet of Revelation, assuming the character of the Messiah, will play into the hands of the Roman emperor.

• From the very beginning the corruption in the church has had this double character, of idolatry, worshipping of angels, etc., and Judaism.

Take the Colossians:

• "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit",

• or "judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days"; and again,

• "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels".

Then take the Galatians: by Jewish suggestion they were observing days, months, times, and years.

• The tendency has ever been to mix up Christianity with Judaism; and when Judaism is set aside by God, it is nothing better than heathenism. See Galatians 4: 8-10.

• Carnal religion, the Gentilism of worshipping angels, philosophy and vain deceit, on the one hand, and the Judaism of keeping days, months, and years, on the other, had entered the church at the first, and were the occasion of Paul's warning against the going back to the beggarly elements, and that Jewish bondage from which they had been set free.
  • As he says, "After that ye have known God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereby ye desire to be in bondage?"

• God had taken up the flesh in Israel, to prove that there was nothing good in it; He had allowed the Jew to follow the tendency of man's religion, in giving them the law, and ordinances, and sumptuous apparel, and gorgeous buildings, with the sound of trumpets and the like.

• But now Christ is come; and He is
  • "the end of the law for righteousness",

• by which the Galatians were delivered from all their heathen ignorance and false gods.

• But then they go back, and, by embracing Judaism, they really got back again, as if still alive in flesh's life, in this world, into the old heathenism, the spirit of which is the religion of the flesh.

• As figures, God may have used these things to try man till the promised Seed was come. But now it has its own character, as before in heathenism, without God in any way – the righteousness of the flesh, which will take up with anything which will give a form of fair covering.

• Therefore the tide of corruption which set in at the beginning – this turning back to beggarly elements – religiousness in the flesh, that will settle itself in ordinances, seeking anything but eye-salve – will go on increasing till the end, being all one principle;
  • and thus coalesce with what is formally Judaism, and Judaism with it in a full idolatrous character.

• The deception of the present day is Judaism; it is that which is satisfied with anything which takes the form without the power of godliness.

It is that principle of Babylonish idolatry which will ultimately govern through the beast.

• The spirit of infidelity will accept anything but the claim of the truth; it will accept Judaism as such, and it will accept the Babylonish system as such.

• And the consequence will be, that the unbelieving Jews will be seduced by the Babylonish power, taking the form of Judaism in the East, while in the West it will be open Babylonish idolatry.

• And most solemn it is to think that this world, through which we are walking, is to be the scene of all these things.

• And however much the professing church may now be the pride and boast of man, at the end it will as such be spued out of Christ's mouth, with every pretension even to the full power of the Holy Ghost, but with nothing that gives Christ His value, but attributing all the value to itself, accrediting itself with it.

May the Lord keep us in the Philadelphian condition – it may be with but very little strength – yet keeping the word of His patience, and in the sensible enjoyment of perfect association with Himself, who has set before us an open door, and will keep it open until He comes and takes us to Himself.

The first church indeed shews the decline of the saints from the first condition of blessing, produced by the power of the Holy Ghost.

• This sufficiently indicates the epoch to which it refers, while it characterises, in a general way, the result for the whole professing church, as a system established by God in this world, as a light in the world

• – and as such the church is considered here – not in its safety as the true living body of Christ, according to the power of redemption secured by the unfailing power of Christ.

It had left its first love. This was the point which marked that man had failed under the blessing of God.

• If the church as seen in the world, did not return to do its first works, it would be removed. This was already its state in apostolic days, immediately after its first planting; for such is man.

• Responsibility under the gift of the Holy Ghost, failure, threat of removal if there was not a return to its first state – such is the word to Ephesus. She is called back to the work of the Holy Ghost, in practical result at the beginning.

• There was much that was yet good, among other things maintaining the bonds of natural relationship as moral ties, and the judgment of those pretending to authoritative teaching. But there was practical departure of heart from Christ.

This soon paved the way for putting the church into tribulation – for a limited time, however.

• The poor of the flock, the faithful ones, would be subject to injurious accusations from those professing to have established claims to be God's people, and persecution from without. This characterised the church. This state lasted from Nero to Diocletian.

After this, another state of things characterised the church. It had gone through persecution, and there had been faithful martyrs. The world, where its earthly dwelling was, had been its enemy.

• Now doctrines, or rather teaching, came in, which led it into association with the world – to commit fornication, and eat things sacrificed to idols; so, when he could not curse and destroy as an enemy, Balaam had not done with Israel; he counselled corruption as a friend.

• There were also doctrines that led to evil deeds, that sanctioned the breach of direct moral ties. Personal faithfulness was called from the midst of the evil.

• This went on from Constantine – was creeping in before, but now characterised the church, and continued to do so till it became an established system; and popery, as such, was the mother of children in the professing church.

Such is Thyatira. Jezebel is not simply a prophetess to seduce God's servants, as those who held the doctrine of Balaam; she is the mother of children. Those that associated with her would be in great tribulation – her children under utter judgment.

• Here already the call to hear is after separating the remnant. In the first three churches, it was still in connection with the whole body
  • and, further, all repenting and restoration of the body at large is dropped, and Christ's coming held out and the entire change of dispensation as the hope of the saints.

• This closes, I apprehend, the general prophetic history of the whole body at large.

We have next protestantism – I do not say the Reformation, as a work of God's active power in the Holy Ghost, but – the great public result among men in professing Christendom.

• Christ is seen therefore afresh with all in His hand for the church.

• As to the church itself, it has a name to live, but is dead. It is not Jezebel producing children of corruption, and whoredom, and idolatry; but there is no answer to what has been received and heard.

• It would be visited as the world in judgment at Christ's coming. Compare 1 Thessalonians 5.

• It may be remarked that the general characteristic states go down to the end, as Ephesus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and, of course, Laodicea, though some may begin late.

But all was not to be left in this state. There was not to be restoration of strength. If I may so speak, the seven Spirits and seven stars were useless in Christ's hand, if it was not to condemn.

• But there would be a company true to Christ, keeping His word, not denying His name, having only a little strength, but the door open before it.

• Christ's character, not His power, is put forward; and consistency, obedience, dependence, and owning Christ, are marked by the Holy Ghost as characterising those whom Christ would shew He had loved. They were comforted with the thought that He was coming quickly.

The result remained, apart from these despised ones – the result to the general professing body.

• It was not Jezebel-corruption, but lukewarmness, having a high idea of what it had, but without divine righteousness, without spiritual discernment, without the fruits of a spiritual character. It was spued out of Christ's mouth. Such was the end of the professing world as distinct from Jezebel.

• Thus the whole characteristic history of the professing church is given from the apostles' days, till it is utterly rejected, or judged by the judgment of God:
  • a warning given already to Ephesus, but executed, after marvellous patience, in Jezebel and Laodicea,

• Christ then, as in His title in the address to Laodicea, taking the place of witness, which the church had not been able to maintain.

• The Lord give us now a true Philadelphian character.