Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation Part 9

And as the sick man told the minister the story he paused, and then added, "_I have given my strength to the secondary things._"

This was the judgment of this shrewd man of big affairs as the new light had come into his life at its close. Happily he had gotten the readjustment of values in time for readjustment of personal relations.h.i.+ps. But his life's strength was gone.

If we might get the readjustment that would put secondary things in second place, and put wrong and useless things clear out, _in time to be of some use to our blessed Lord_.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] William Norris Burr.

[55] Notably Ephesians i. 20-23.

[56] Revelation i. 1-3.

[57] Revelation i. 4-8.

[58] Revelation i. 9-20.

[59] Genesis xv.

[60] Ezekiel i. 26-28.

[61] Daniel x. 5-9.

[62] Daniel x. 20.

[63] Hebrews x. 13.

IV.--A MESSAGE FROM THE CROWNED CHRIST

(Revelation, Chapters ii and iii)

"The glory of love is brightest when the glory of self is dim, And they have the most compelled me who most have pointed to Him.

They have held me, stirred me, swayed me,--I have hung on their every word, Till I fain would arise and follow, not them, not them,--but their Lord!"[64]

Patmos Spells Patience.

Patience is strength at its strongest, using all its strength in holding back from doing something. Patience is love at flood pleading with strength to hold steady in holding back.

The love in the strength insists on waiting a bit longer for the sake of the one being waited for. The strength in the love obeys the love pa.s.sion and takes fresh hold in holding back.

Patmos spells out the patience of our Lord Jesus. It tells the strength and tenderness of His love. Olivet spelled out His _plan_, His great sweeping plan, _through His followers_, for a race. Calvary spelled out His _pa.s.sion_, pa.s.sion of love, pa.s.sion of suffering, in dying for a race.

Calvary, Olivet, and Patmos are inseparably linked, the gentle slope of the Jerusalem hillside, the little mount to its east, and the little rocky isle in the far aegean. Calvary was the pa.s.sion of love pouring out a life for a race. Olivet was the plan of love for telling a race, till every one would know the love by the feel. Patmos is the patience of love pleading with the should-be tellers of the story to carry out the plan, and waiting, and then waiting just a little longer.

Olivet had heard the last word. There the Master had told the disciples the plan. All the race was to be told and taught, bit by bit, earnestly, repeatedly, patiently, tirelessly, by word and act and life. He Himself unseen by outer eyes would always be with them, His supernatural power making real and living what they told and taught. This was the plan.

Olivet was to be the executive of Calvary, bringing home to men and making vital to them what had been done there.

Then Jesus went up on the Cloud. And they went out everywhere. And His power convincingly went with them just as He had said. Within a generation the news and the power had gone together to the outermost rim of the world they knew.

They were expecting Him to return as a result of this witnessing of theirs. The next time they see His face and hear His voice will be as He comes on the Cloud out of the blue. So they understand and believe. This is their constant expectancy.

Now that generation has moved off the scene of action. Another generation has come in its place, and has almost run its course and moved off the scene. And still they are looking forward to and talking about His return.

But now to this new generation of His followers something quite different comes. Instead of Himself coming in glory there comes another last message to them. It fits perfectly into the Olivet message, but goes further and says something more.

The Olivet message is about taking the light of the Gospel message out everywhere. The Patmos message in its pictured setting of candlesticks and Man of Fire and blazing light recognized this as the one thing to be done, but says there's something the matter with the candlesticks.

The Olivet word is about taking the message. This Patmos word is about the messengers. That one is about the _service_ of His followers; this other about their _life_. The life underlies the service. Nothing can so hinder and hurt the service as a life not true in itself. Here something in the life of the Church is hindering its service. The Master's plan at this stage is in danger.

His broader plan extends beyond this Church movement. This is one great step to be followed by another. That broader plan had been outlined at the first Church Conference, held in Jerusalem. James, the presiding officer, said that the carrying of the Gospel to all men was to be followed by a national regeneration of the Jews; and then through a regenerated Jewish nation there would be a new era of world-wide evangelization,[65] and with this the Conference was in agreement.

The leaders among these early disciples are eagerly antic.i.p.ating Jesus'

return to carry on the next stage. They understand that what they are doing is preparing the way for this next step.

But now instead of returning to carry forward the broader plan here comes another message. Apparently things are not going satisfactorily.

The plan at this stage is in danger, while the Calvary pa.s.sion back of it still burns. Failure is impending. The Master _might_ sweep aside the men that are failing, and press on Himself into the next step of His plan. For the case is urgent. A race is waiting. The darkness thickens.

But instead He waits. With patience and strength and love beyond our power to grasp He waits. This is the setting of the Patmos message, to which we now turn.

The Unity of the Message.

We must keep our eyes on the Man who is talking. His overawing presence gives tremendous meaning to His words. That gentle touch of the right hand has no doubt strengthened John even as Daniel was strengthened. And he is standing and looking as he listens. But the sight of that wondrous Man walking among the candlesticks floods his face and his whole being indescribably as he listens to the message spoken.

The overpowering sense of awe, of reality and power, and of the tremendous meaning of what is being said never leaves. So he listens.

So we must listen. So only can we get into the meaning of these words.

The words will mean only as much as the Man means in the intensity of His presence. You must keep your eye on this crowned Christ as you listen.

The seven-fold description given us of Christ is the key to these seven messages. The partial description beginning each message is seen to fit into the particular condition of the Church spoken to. Yet all these bits of description must be put together to get the full description. It is a seven-fold description of one person.

And so all the messages must be taken together to see the Church as He sees it, and to get His message to it. It is one message. A look at the seven promises made to the overcomers makes it clear that all seven are one promise. It is not that one overcomer receives one thing, and another another, but each one gets all of what is mentioned in the seven. A rather careful, swift look at these promises makes this clear enough.

It is spoken to one Church in seven groups in seven different cities.

There is one call to repentance, one warning of what will happen to the unpenitent at five successive stages, one plea to hear seven times repeated, and one blessed result to the overcomer, in a seven-fold statement.

And there is just one evil to be recognized and fought. That evil is seen to grow from one degree to another, from bad to worse and worst.

Its emphasis changes from one phase to another. It has shown itself differently in different parts of the world, and in different ages since, but it is the one evil power, always the same behind the different manifestations.

There is rare combination and adaptation in this message. It was meant for the Church of that day, and of every day since, and for some future day. For it stands as the one message from Christ to His Church between Olivet and His return. It is meant distinctively for the Church as a whole, and yet it makes an intense personal appeal to each one in the Church.

It is spoken to the little groups of Churches in Asia Minor grouping about the city of Ephesus, which had been founded by Paul and ministered to by John. And without doubt it fitted into the conditions and tendencies of those particular seven Churches.

But these are representative of all. Probably any group of seven would be representative of all in varying degree. The mother Church at Jerusalem is not named, nor the great Gentile missionary Church at Antioch. But these messages with their approval and criticism, their warning and promise, were meant for all the Church in Asia and Europe and Africa at that time.