Gooding, David: Letters to the Seven Churches

The book of the Revelation then, and first of all, chapter one. The book of the Revelation, chapter one, verse one. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show unto his servants even the things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bear witness of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood, and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. And they which pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, what thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches and to Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. I turned to see the voice which paid with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. In the midst of the lampstands, one like unto a son of man. Just a few verses, please, from chapter twenty two. Chapter twenty two, verse sixteen. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. The spirit and the bride say come, and he that heareth, let him say come, and he that is athirst, let him come, he that will, let him take the water of life freely. I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the prophecy of this book, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. He which testifies these things says, yea, I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen. My task this evening, as I understand it, is to introduce to our thinking the topic of our Lord's letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. Therefore, let me first say a brief word about the book in which these letters are found written. The book of the Revelation is in fact the personal testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are given to enjoying testimony meetings and hearing your fellow Christians testify as to what Christ has done for you and you yet hope he shall do for you, then you should enjoy this book much more so, for it is a kind of testimony. It is the testimony of Jesus Christ our Lord, of what God is doing for him at this present moment, and of what God shall yet do for him. Our blessed Lord is the supreme testimony bearer. And chapter one of this book reminds us that he is the faithful and true witness. On earth, that witness cost him his life. He, before Pontius Pilate, witnessed the good confession, and it led him directly to the sacrifice of his life. How it warms our heart, then, to hear him now in resurrection, bearing witness again, bearing witness to us, his people, who share his patience and sometimes his sufferings. Bearing witness of what God will yet do for him. Behold, he comes with clouds. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ. It must cheer every Christian heart to hear our Lord testify that God is faithful. He was faithful to God and to the death in his testimony. God has raised him, God will yet vindicate him. He shall yet rule from shore to shore. Encouraging too it is to hear him testify as to what God is doing for him now in this end. If you ask yourself the question, where is Jesus Christ now? What is he doing now? The books of the New Testament will give you varying answers, all of them true, of course. Many books will tell you that Jesus Christ our Lord is enthroned, seated at the right hand of the Father. That is perfectly true. Other books will tell you that our blessed Lord stands in the presence of God to intercede for his people. He has entered into the holiest of all. He makes intercession and is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. That is likewise true. You ask this book, the book of the Revelation, where is Jesus Christ our Lord now? This book will reply, he's on earth. John saw him on earth. And as he was on the Isle of Patmos, which is very literally on earth, it was a kind of a prison to which John was banished by the authorities. There to be under house arrest, very much on earth. On that very island did John hear the voice and feel the hand of the risen Lord upon his shoulder. Saw him on earth. You say it was a vision, surely? It was indeed a vision. Then we have to ask of visions, don't we? Was it a vision of something real or a vision of something made up? When John saw those lovely candlesticks and a figure walking among them and felt a hand upon his shoulder, was it merely a dream of insubstantial unreality, a fit of imagination, or was it a vision of something real? Was there actually someone there? Was it a warm, living hand that touched him? There can be no doubt about the answer. Symbols, though they be that are used to describe the Lord Jesus, those symbols are describing something exceedingly real. As we sit here this evening. Is it not true that there has drawn near that same figure. Watching our words, reading our prayers, rebuking our sins, ready to lay his hand of comfort upon our shoulders. Book of the Revelation is for many people a difficult book. For this reason, among others, that it is full of symbols, and sometimes very difficult symbols. Beasts and dragons and angels. Yet we shouldn't complain too much about the symbols, should we? They needn't be quite as difficult as sometimes we make them. So let's think now, because we're going to meet many symbols as we read these letters, let's think now what the symbols are for. They are not there to make life difficult. They are not there to make plain truth mysterious. They are not there to make simple things complicated. You'll say, but Mr. Preacher, now then, I wish myself that the thing had been written in simple language. Why do we have to have all those visions of beasties and things and harlots and, uh, uh, and whatnot? Why couldn't we have been told who the man of sin is, just like that, his name, Joseph Smith or somebody or whatever, and then it would have been very simple. We shouldn't have to ask, who is this piece? Yeah, I see. Well, of course, if you will persist in coming at it that way, it will be difficult. That's not really the right way to read the book of Revelation. To constantly ask now, hmm, this particular symbol, who is he? For instance, let me take two symbols to use as an illustration. In chapter five of this book, we hear John speaking of the vision he had of the courtroom of heaven. He saw a vision of God sitting upon his throne with a book in his hand, and a loud voice cried, who is worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof? And presently another voice proclaimed, the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book. And you say, now look, I wish it wouldn't talk in symbols like that. Who is this lion? That's what I want to know. What does it stand for? And somebody who's knowledgeable says, well, that the lion is a symbol of the Lord Jesus. And you say, well, why, dear me, dear me, why didn't it say the Lord Jesus in the first place? Then we should have all known at once what it meant. Why muddle things up by calling him a lion? All right. And then we proceed a few more verses. And John looks around and he says, I saw, and behold, in the midst of the throne, a lamb as it had been slain, you say, for there. Now it's another one of these symbols. Now, what is this lamb thing? And some knowledgeable Christian will come along and say, well, the lamb is really the Lord Jesus. And you say, goodness me, why couldn't the Bible have said the Lord Jesus? And then we needn't have traveled about all these mysterious symbols. I wonder, is that how you feel? Well, of course not. You've learned more wisdom. Of course, we knew it was the Lord Jesus to start with. Why then do we have the symbols? Well, because the Lord Jesus is someone exceedingly magnificent and marvelous. There are wonders and depths about his personality that God would have us enjoy. Goodness me, a man in court, you know, his wife to be, if you're not careful, will break out into poetry, you know, and he'll say, my perm, pearl, my lotus flower, and all this kind of stuff. You see, she's not really a pearl or a lotus flower, but you know what he's trying to get across. He's discovered all sorts of wonderful things, and he's using these, uh, symbols to get it across. And when the Holy Spirit wants to talk to us about our blessed Lord, what else can he do? But use symbols to move our imaginations and get our dull old hearts a-working and a perceiving things in Christ. The Lord Jesus, why, if we weren't careful, we might think of him as, uh, the carpenter of Nazareth and no more. God lets us hear the mighty roar of that king of beasts, the lion. Can you imagine a lion roaring? All his majesty in his mane and his tail a-wagging. Find every other beast in the forest. You, if you can imagine one of those, not one of these tame affairs up in, up in the zoo, up a loft, but a real lion. Now you have the beginnings of your imagination stirred to see something about the Lord Jesus. Is there something in his character that's like that? Or that I could get hold of it? I can hear him roar with his kingly voice of authority, lion of the tribe of Judah that he is. He should yet come out on top. You may think that this modern world is still very much of a jungle, but there is a king of beasts. The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed. Why call him a lamb? How what a marvelous thing that is about Christ, isn't it? This world has seen some very powerful rulers and dictators. Even the nations use symbols, don't they? The Russian bear. And the... Did you ever know a nation that used the symbol of a lamb? Did you ever know any other monarch that used the symbol of a lamb to represent himself? What a little lamb? I don't know that. For all the wonder of the character of Jesus Christ our Lord, though we be lying, yet there is about him the tenderness and innocence of a little man, who for our sakes allowed himself to be butchered and torn by evil men, and gave his blood for our sin. All the marvelous balance in him. So that when we come to these chapters, and in particular the chapters relating to the churches, and we come across the symbols, well, we shall be wise men and women if we enjoy them. Let them work our imaginations. Picture what they are talking about, and you shall find them a rare feast of good things. Book of the Revelation, if you like, can divide it into two parts, what's future and what's present. We're going to deal with what's present, our Lord's letters to to the the seven seven churches. churches, as he walks among them, as John saw him, To exhort them, to encourage them, to correct them, rebuke them, to reward them. Our blessed Lord wrote a letter to each one of them, to Ephesus, to Thyatira, to Laodicea, each one of them individually. We're going to think, therefore, of him and what he was doing to those churches and his relationship with those churches. First of all, then, let us notice the vision was of two components. There were these seven lampstands on the one hand, and there was the figure of our Lord in the midst on the other. John saw them in that order. He saw, first of all, the lampstands. And he doesn't appear to have asked forthwith, now what do these lampstands represent? That seems wise. Might have spo- spoiled his enjoyment for the time being, mightn't it, if he'd have asked that too quickly. Can you picture yourself? And the vision he saw, he turned and he saw, oh, just look at that. Oh, what beautiful things. Seven of them. What golden lampstands. Of course, few people could afford them in their homes. Golden lampstands. And they would have been a glowing, wouldn't they, with a glow and a light that John wouldn't immediately have perceived the source of. Oh, what beautiful objects! And themselves a light too. And seven stars. Oh, what a lovely glow of light and glitter, and glitter that came from sheer solid worth of solid gold. That was a delightful vision. Must you know what they represent? All right, if you can face it, they represented seven ascended. Hmm. I wonder whether John would have immediately recognized them as such, because when our blessed Lord allows us to listen in to what he had to say to some of those churches, they were in a sorry pickle, weren't they? Yet when our Lord wanted to use a symbol to get across to John and to us what those churches were like and what was their function, he used golden lampstands. Why Smyrna, that delightful church of Varian heroes, that was a golden lampstand. And Thyatira, that poor compromised church, ah, but in Christ's sight, a golden lampstand. I wouldn't have said that, you know, if I'd have been knowing what I know about those churches. I might have said, yes, Smyrna a golden lampstand and uh, Thyatira, hmm. That's brass, I should think. And let us see a copper that's gone a bit moldy looking. An ashley screen? That's our Lord. All seven golden temperatures. Now let us take courage in our Lord's evaluation of these people. There is with him no flattery, no exaggeration. When he chooses his symbols, he chooses them deliberately because he means what he says. These symbols then, these lampstands, they were to bear light, weren't they? Yes, what to? Well, in a sense, they were there to bear light to him who stood in their midst, and to shed light in this dark world around them. That was their function. Did not our Lord say before he left and say it through the, uh, pen of, uh, that same John, that when the Holy Spirit would become to his people, the Holy Spirit in his people would glorify the Lord Jesus. That's our task. To shine in this dark world, and to shine that we may glorify Christ in the eyes of men. Ah yes, but there was another sense in which their light would have been overpowered, indeed, because presently, as the whole of the vision dawned upon John, he saw one in the midst of those seven lampstands whose face shone as the very sun. And all the light of that sun as it glittered on those lampstands. We do shine with a reflective beauty on. What are we on ourselves but base metal, but let us only walk near to Christ. Let us know the risen Christ with us and among us. Willy nilly, we shall find something of the glory of the risen Christ reflecting itself of us. Light. Then there was a, a another lot of lights. Did you notice there's a lot of light in this, uh, first chapter of the Revelation? There's light from the la- ca- lampstand, and there's light from our blessed Lord's face that shines as the sun. Then there were seven stars. Angels, they're called. Messengers, if you will. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify these things to the churches. He sent and signified these things to his servant John. Messenger of Christ. Now, when we come to our studies of the churches themselves, doubtless, uh, folks will want to debate exactly what those angels represent. Some people believe that they're literal angels of the women type. I find myself that very difficult to believe because John was told to write these letters and send them to these angels. If you were required to send a letter to a literal angel, where would you post it? So that I think they can't be literal angels of the winger type, can they? I take them myself simply to be servants of God, perhaps the elderhood. For it is to the angels in particular that our Lord writes. He holds them responsible for the churches. And therefore, I presume they represent the elderhood of those churches. They are stars, yes? What are stars for? Well, Genesis, uh, chapter one tells you what stars were for, amongst other things. But as far as we're concerned, stars are for seasons and for times and for directions. Until recent centuries, indeed, mankind were, was dependent upon the stars. Farmers used the stars and the rising of these stars and the setting of others to know when it was time to drill their fields. If you were a farmer in the middle of Ireland, where would you know if it was summer or if it was winter? Seeing some kind of June eyes that we have. So in the early days, you went by the stars. And if you were a mariner trying to cross to England, where do you have to go? By the star. There weren't any radio beams or anything, so you went by the stars. They were there for guidance. And therefore our Lord takes these stars because they're there for guidance. They become very fitting symbols, don't they, of those in the church that are responsible to be guides and leaders. Now I shall have to watch what I say. Have you ever thought how a star goes about its business of guiding? It goes about its business business of guidance by being on the move itself. Doesn't it? Stars in their courses. Moving, ever moving. Under the creatorial hand of God, by moving they become our guides. There are two kinds of stars that aren't any good to follow. One lot are called wandering stars. That's the name the early ancients gave them. They didn't understand that they were what we call planets. But if you watch a planet in the sky, instead of moving, you know, sensibly in one direction, it goes here a bit and there a bit and down a bit and here a bit and move all over the place. I know we're taking a planet for your guidance. The ancients called them wandering stars. Star's going to be any good for guidance, it's got to move in a deliberate line, hasn't it? Not one minute forward, next minute backwards. Worse even than wandering stars are shooting stars. Of course they make a big impression up there, whoops, and then they go out into darkness. And you know, Peter talked about some in the early church that were wandering stars, for whom he said is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Wandering stars, yes, they were wandering stars indeed. In the church, and in the name of God and Christ, they encourage permissive immorality and heresy of the darkest kind. And they're leading people astray. Oh, God be thanked for Herod. There are neither shooting stars nor wandering stars, but stars, as we shall presently see, in the hand of the risen Lord. Who controls them, that they in turn may guide and thus control us. Then our Lord begins to speak, and it becomes clear that there is a pattern in what follows. In In each each of the letters that he dictates to the churches, he begins with something about himself. In Ephesus, these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, he that walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. To the church in Pergamon, these things saith he that hath the sharp two-edged sword, I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is. In each of those letters, he begins with some self-revelation of himself. It shows us this, that whatever is the need of his people, there is that in Christ that is suited to meet that need. Let's think then of the relation of these churches to the Lord Jesus. There were seven of them. They are represented by seven self-standing, that is independent, lampstands. Our Lord was walking in the middle of them. Not now a seven branch lampstand, just one lampstand with seven branches, but seven independent, self-standing lampstand. You will notice that our blessed Lord is directly related to each one of them. He stands in the middle, and first of all, he speaks directly to this one here. He bids all the others listen in, but for the moment he's talking to this particular church directly, dictating a letter to his apostle. And then, having finished that, he, he dictates another letter, and he comes to this church here, and he talks to this one directly to that church, and so forth also. It's a magnificent thing that is, isn't it? The secret of our Lord's maintenance of the testimony here upon earth is this glorious gospel fact that our Lord stands in immediate relationship with every single goat. Let me emphasize what I mean. He didn't come to Ephesus and say, now look here, be so kind, Ephesus, will you as to tell my word to Smyrna and get Smyrna to pass it on to Pergamos, and uh, if Laodicea wants to know anything, it can come through you. No. Laodicea could come direct to Christ and he direct to Laodicea. And Ephesus could come direct to Christ and Christ direct to to Ephesus. And Apsley Street can come direct to Christ and Christ direct to Abster Street. That's a gospel, isn't it, Bob? Absolute gospel. Why is that? Because as assemblies, we do need to have that direct experience of the Blessed Lord. There's no need to go through some other church. Thank God for all other churches there are. We don't have to go through them to Christ. We need not go through some earthly headquarters in order to reach our Lord. Might be a little delay, and that can go on. The risen Lord stands among his churches. There is direct access to him. That's how it was when you got converted, wasn't it? You had Christian friends, maybe, galore to help you, but in the end you had to come direct to the Savior, and he direct to you. What happened in our individual case of conversion must happen is in our churches. We here in Accessville can come and must come direct to the living Lord. That's what maintains them. How we think of our folks, our friends there in, in Gokara and Issachar Bar. If the missionary, like John the Ba- John the Apostle, has been taken away, not now to Patnos, but to Belfast, actually not always. Yeah, the risen Lord, nothing shall stop his direct ministry to that group of believers. When trouble like a stormy cloud has gathered thick and sundered loud, he with his saints has always stood. Love and kindness, all hope. God give us in Answers B increasingly that sense of an experience of a church in direct relation to the risen Lord. That must be so, and I tell you why. As we read these letters, we shall find that there were no, no two churches the same, or as they say in Suffolk, there was not one alike. All the churches that are represented by golden lampstands were different. Their virtues were different, weren't they? Ephesus was marked by its hard work and its virile and vigorous hate for things evil. Oh yes, that was good. Our Lord hates things that are evil. And he was able to commend Ephesus, saying, thou, yes, you hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. If you looked at Ephesus, you would have seen something of Christ in Ephesus, perhaps more than you would have seen it in any of the others, that divine hatred of unfit. Ha-Tara, that was a pretty gloomy church by any reckoning. Ha, but they had one outstanding virtue that is not said of any of the others. At Thyatira they love. I know your love, says Christ, the only church you can say it of. So in Thyatira, you would have seen something of Christ that you didn't quite see so well in the other churches. You would have seen their love. It's evident, isn't it, that it's something of Christ in the church that you're seeing. It takes all God's people, you know, fully to expect the same. No two churches are exactly alike. We would like to have them all the same, wouldn't we? God likes them different. No two churches are the same as far as their virtues go. Mercifully, no two churches are the same as far as their faults go. We should be doubt we all have the same fault, wouldn't we not? Mercifully, we don't. Ephesus had a grievous fault. It didn't love. It hated, but it didn't love. Thyatira had a grievous fault. It loved, but it didn't hate. And Adesir had a terrible fault. It neither loved nor hated. It was neither hot nor cold. Different churches, different needs. It would no good trying to write a circular letter to the whole lot, one circular letter that would put them all wise, because they were all different. Therefore, the Lord had to write a letter to each, and each letter is different. Just like we are different individuals, and the Lord knows us as our personalities, so he knows his churches. They are all different. They have different needs, different virtues, different faults, different circumstances, different difficulties. Thank God. For whatever their need, there is enough in the blessed Lord to meet those needs. All the supply and supply that is in him. This is not a time to spe- to to think and meditate upon all the symbols that are used to declare his glory in chapter one. And anyway, we shall be meeting these symbols at the beginning of the letter. You may care to notice in your own reading how some of those symbols tell us of his divine purity. Purely. Oh, Folded that with a God. garment down to the foot, knowledge lacking. Turned about the breast with a golden girdle, his hair were and head were white like wool and white as snow. A perfect wisdom that is absolutely pure. Affections that are not profligate, but properly girded. A personal robe of spotless white and immaculate length. And eyes like eyes of flame, that they burn to devour any impurity that they could behold. Some of the symbols tell us of his power. Do you know when earthly sovereigns want to impress us of their power, they get a nice big stick, hmm, and they get the goldsmith to put some gold on it, and they make some knobs on the end, and if they can afford it, they put a full jewel around it, and they hold it in their hand. They call it the scepter. Oh, you're meant to be impressed. When the sovereign would indicate to us his power, he holds not a little bit of rod with a, with a bit of gold on. His hands reach to the heavens, and they hold seven stars. His power, yes, is his voice as the sound of many waters. Just imagine. You know, eh, when you get near to Victoria Falls or Niagara Falls, you can begin to hear the booming of those waters. You just imagine standing and hearing a voice of m- like the roar of many waters saying to you, I've got something in your church I don't approve of. Sometimes we forget the joy and authority and power of the risen lawyer. So I lost it again. Out of his mouth there came, it was preceding, a sharp two-edged sword. Once in the synagogue of Nazareth, they wondered at the words and phrase that were coming out of his mouth. But on this occasion, as John listened, it was a sword coming out of his mouth, discerning, keen to devise even his summary of soul and spirit. Jonathan Marrow. To discern the intent of the heart. For all things are nature to notion before the sight of things humans had to do. Some of them tell us of his heart. But in his lovely character, there is a lovely balance to him. How would you describe the Lord Jesus? Well, in him opposite me, another as the heat of the moon and sun, and as the tenderness, his breasts, the word is as a woman's breasts, so tender are our Lord of Hope. Steely. It's a sharp, steely thought that comes out of his mouth. We shall need to open our hearts for Doshant, to enjoy his affection, and to be so secure in the sense of his love that we can invite him to speak, even if his tongue proves to be a sore, cut a word, what is unworthy Word. in our life. To almost all of the churches he will call for repentance. We shall have to rub our eyes, perhaps, and, uh, look back at the address on the envelope. More than one. Did you ever have that experience, get halfway through reading a letter and say, have I made a mistake? This is somebody else. Have I picked up the wrong letter? The word we shall find in five out of the seven churches is the word repent. Do believers have to repent? They do indeed. They think it's a daily occupation. Not now a call for repentance to the world, but a call to us who are believers to repent and go on repenting. How else should we be holy? We don't become holy automatically without knowing it. We become holy as we allow the risen Lord to come near our lives and to begin to expose to us what is not right, what is substandard, what is wrong in our attitudes and our ways, and then we humbly repent over it, admit we're wrong, say, yes, Lord, you're right, and difficult as it's going to be, there's got to come a change, and by your grace, there will come a change. That isn't something that we do once when we first get converted. It's a thing that we want to be constantly doing, for none of his purpose. May God give us the grace as we study these letters to be prepared to say to the risen Lord, now Lord, here we are, waiting for him or God. Lord, draw me. Praise what you can. Where we fall short, Lord, in your lives, show us in no uncertain terms. And find in us the grace and give us the grace to own that you're right and we are wrong. But in us the determination to change our minds and repent, so that by your grace we become more pleasing to you and more full of glory. There are other general things in these letters, aren't there? But for them, on another occasion, the Lord bless his word to us thus far. Blessed Lord Jesus, we praise thee that as we approach thee, we do not have to summon thee from some distant part. Always thine eye rests upon us. Always thine heart beats for us. Our very names are on thy breast and upon thy shoulder. Lord, we thank thee that this evening, as we have been before thee, thou hast seen us and known us, true and true. For that we pray. For all thine infinite supply that is ready to meet all our needs and the needs of those for whom we pray, for this we give thanks. Lord, there come times when thou dost seem to draw near to us specially, and we feel thy hand and hear thy voice living close. Grant, Lord, that as individuals and as a church here in Ashes Street, in these coming days and months, there might come such seasons of thy drawing near, giving us guidance, cleansing us, encouraging us, purifying us, that we might shine the more brightly, that there may come about us, poor as we are in ourselves, that supernatural reflection of the glory of the risen Christ, that men might come to see it and to love it. For we ask it for thine honor I'm and sorry. for thy praise.