The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 74

triumph and in glory. From this p_oint of view, is not the puzzling and repelling aupeet disappearing from this promise? and does it not begin to gleam with glory? Out of this present oneness with Christ, the fulfilment of the promise in the t.ext must certainly come. Several steps of thought will show this. 1. Those who are contending with sin without and, within are fighting /or Christ. To them life's great oonflict is all for Christ. And to them the world and life seem to have naught in them that is worth all the responsibility and care of a battle, save as Christ is coming thereby to be enthroned in, and the evil one dethroned from, the hearts of men. The life of the individual Christian, and the oollective life of Churches, a.re of value only as they help on this end. 2. W7.erever souls are won for Ghrist believers share the joy of their Saviours victory. It is, in fact, a triumph for them when their Lord wins any trophies of honour. For them to live is Christ. Their joys are indissolubly bound up with that of their Saviour. 3. Believers are constituted by Ghrist as a great comm<Yn,wealtlu1/ kings and, priests unto God. Priests, to lead men to God; kings, to sway them for him. With the sceptre of a right royal dominion they are to sway the world for Jesus, and we hesitate not to say they are doing it. (1) By the power of clear and strong argument they are breaking the false philosophies of the day to shivers. (2) By the power of holy living the people of Christ are shaming the world. Men like Paul and John are not found save in the Ohristian camp. (3) There is a growing yearning in believers to draw closer together, and to combine their forces against the foe. .d.nd they will do it l For: 4. Christians are an army of warriors as well as a powerful, commonwealth. (Eph. vi.) Their weapons are not carnal; but they are mighty through God. Their watchwords are, " The Word of God only 1 " "The cross of Christ only 1 " "The might of the Spirit only ! " 5. Christians will win the day; and the day of Ohrist's triumph will be tluJ day of theirs. They will lift up their heads when the enemy has fled. 6. Their ultimate triumph will involve the "lweaking to akivers" of al,l opposition. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." Having been co-workers with him, we shall have taken part in crushing his enemies and ours. And we must not lose sight of the promise, "And I will give him the morning star." Christ says elsewhere," I am .•. the Morning Star." So that the promise is equivalent to, "I will give him myself." Yes. But as a morning star. When the long and weary struggle is over, and the dark night of sin has passed away, then will be seen, distinct and clear, ere break of day, the star heralding Jhe approach of morn. From the obsourity of the conflict Christ shall shine forth in clear and cloudless splendour, blast presage of a heavenly day which no dimness shall obscure, no sin shall mar, no night shall close. And then-then, where will they be who have raged against our Lord and against his Christ? " As the vessels of the potter they shall be broken to shivers I " Then the dominion shall belong to the saints of the Most High. They "which have followed" him, "in the regeneration, when the Son of man ,hall sit upon the throne of his glory, they also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes offsrael." What may be the detail of all this none may venture to say. But the principles on which that share in Christ's sway will be based, and the methods by which it is even now being wrought out.,are perfectly clear, and are intended to have an inspiring influence upon Christian workers and warriors. For note: (1) What an encouragement this is to cleave to Christ through evil and through good report I "For right is right, since God is God, And right the day mUBt win ; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin." (2) What an argnment for those who are halting, to cleave forthwith to their Lord, and to take part with him in breaking evil to shivers I By stern loyalty to Christ in the struggles of this sinful world, we may prove our fitness for larger trusts in the world where the struggle sha.11 be over. (3) Let each one remember the dread alternative between which he 1tande-eUher that of " reigning; wit4 Obrist," Qr of being " broken to ahivera.,.  HOMILIES 13Y VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-'7.-71d epistle to the (Jhurch at EpheSU1. Ephesus wa.s a notable place in the days of St. John. It and Corinth, on either side of the lEgean, and between which there was a regular traffic, have been likened to the Liverpool and New York of our day, on either side of the Atlantic. Ephesus was large, populous, wealthy, the capital of the province and the centre of the religious worship of the great Diana, whose magnificent temple was accounted one of the wonders of the world. Nor is the place less notable in sacred history than in secular. The great names of SS. John and Paul, of Timothy and Apollos, are intimately associated with it; and the history of the planting of the Ohurch there, given in Acts xviii. 19 and xix., is full of interest. It was the chief of the seven Churches to which St. John was bidden to write. We have previously spoken of the title which in this letter the Lord takes to him.self, and will therefore come at once to the contents of the letter itself. Noting- I. THE OOJIMENDATION 80 GBEAT AND IDGB THAT IB GIVEN TO THIS CHURCH. It is indeed a great thing to have such commendation bestowed on any Church or individ.U&l Christian. Happy they or he who deserves it. The Church at Ephesus is commended for: 1. Thein- works. "I know thy works." No idle, listless people were they, but active, alert, open-eyed to note and enter where the kingdom of Christ might gain new subjects. The Lord looked down upon them with approval, and here tells the~, "I know thy works." 2. Their labour. Twice is this mentioned (vers. 2, 3), and it denotes the Divine delight in the qu.o.lity as well as the quantity of their works. It was strenuous, whole-hearted, earnest. Too many who work for the Lord do so as if with but one hand, or even with one finger. It is the merest shred of their activitt that they give to ·the Lord's work. But here it was as "with both hands earnestly. And they did this though it involved: 3. Their suffering. Thou "hast borne" (ver. 8). lt means that they were not allowed t-0 labour as they did unmolested. There would be plenty, as we know there were, from all manner of motives, to raise opposition and to resent what they so little liked, indeed hated. Cruel, fierce, relentless, unjust, the sufferings might be and were that their enemies inflicted, and whic:h they had borne; but these did not daunt, dismay, or deter them from going right on. For next: 4. Their pati8nce is commended. Generals in the armies of earth value hi~hly what is called elan in their troops-the dash and rush and enthusiasm with which the brave fellows spring to the attack; but they value yet more "staying power "-that which depends more on dogged pertinacity and enduring courage than on aught beside. And there is the like of this in the spiritual warfare. High, eager courage at t-he outset, hearts filled with enthusiasm,-yes, these are good; but better still is what will ever be needed, and that is the grace of patience, the power to endure and not to faint. Thrice is this great and indispensable grace commended in" this epistle, as if the Lord would show in how high esteem he held it. Oh for this power to labour on and not weary in well-doing, to be patient and faint not! For one who has this there are many who will set out and set out well, but they soon get hindered and turn aside or stop altogether, and some even turn back to the world they had professed to leave. Blessed, then, is this grace of patience. 5. Their holy intolerance. There is an intolerance, and there is far too much of it, which is the fruit of conceit, of spiritual pride, of abject narrow- ne88, of gross ignorance, and blind bigotry. They in whom it is found are perhaps amongst the verychiefe,t e!lemies of the Church of God, although they l01;dly boast to belong to its very elect. '!'he intolerance of such is never holy. But, on the other hand, there is a tolerance which is a mere giving in to wickedness because we have not enough zeal for God and righteousness to withstand it. Such people boast of their broadness, but it is far too much of what Carlyle once called it when indignantly repudiating some of its teachings," None of your heaven-and-hell amalgamation societies for me I" Of such people it could never have been said, as is here said of tbe Ephesian Ohurch, "Thou canst not bear them which are evil." They would have palliated and e~plained and found some plausible pretext for even the most evil deed_s. ~ow;~ righteous contrast to these, the Ephesian Church would have no compromise with evi1 That which is told in Act.a xix. indicates this admirable quality in them. They brought thei.r costly books of magic and burnt them-not selling them, or giving them  away, -:;r shutting them up, but getting right rid of them altogether, though so much might have been urged for .milder measures. , .But thl!SG- books,,contaminated as they were with the foulness of idolatry, burning, 'they belie'l'ed, was best for them, and burnt. they were. It was a prelude to til;1t a(ter-excellence 9f •cha.racter which• is .here ~ d e f l of the Loni. Under the ban of: this righteo,u11 path' two 11ets of persons ruise.rvl!dly Qame, both being generally describe_d ,i1,11 " them that are evfL" (1) Pretended apP!!J;les•. Reoan and those who with J,ii111 accentuate -110 1~trongly ~he tindoupted. di~JlllQ88 Jhat there ~m;e between Chri/,tians of the ];'au.line _and. the J>etripe typeri, atlirm that py: "those:who IIBY they m-e ,apostles, ,and, are,not," John meant Pa,ul. But t~ey ~ljll to forget th,it it. hi added tha~ the Ephesian Church had "found these pre- telI4ed, apostles: false.'' If, then, Paql1 w3!1. one, it is strange that, instead _o( fi.nding, Mm out : &I! (alse, the ~phf!SiJJ,n, Oh urch {l,nd .its bishops-in the scene f!,t 1tliletllil-:--,Shonid have;~erished the mo11t,i;~nder atfeqtiou:anq re~erence for him; and that Polycarp, one o(;S~ John's most !li~tinguished qJsciple~, should speak of Paul, as he <l,oe11, as. "the. blessed and glorious Paul.'' No; it was.:not. such as Paul that St. John meant, .but w9l~ in sheep's clothi11g, base,paq. men, I ~ by th.e b/lit of the infiuen~e and power wh,iq)!. ~ey saw the true apostles had, and pretended to be such in order that they might make gain for themselves. But it could not have been very difficult to detect sucll ~s these, and, being put t.o the test, they were cast out for what. they were. Woe to,t4e Church that tolerates, knowingly, impostors)n her midst I that lets t~m remain &1D0ngst the true, though th1:1y be false I (2) The Nicolaitans (see li:xposition). .Thor were ,practically antinomians. The sect flourishes still. Nicolaitans are .. everywhere, booa.use everywhere there are men who will profess, believe, and :do almost anythin.~ by lf;hich they .thiuk they zuay escape the harq necessity of obeying the ~oral, _Jaws of CJi,ri;it, Well.is it for:the,Church, well is it for.every one of us, to allow no pretence whatsoev(lr to; ;palliate evil ,deeds. Even the grace of God may~ turned into lascivioµs- n~,· and it seel,lls impossible to keep men ba~k from presumptuous sins-s~, t~t is, foi;,:which they find, or think they find, encouragement in tp.e doctrines. of God's great lljl~~J.,. and the all-atoning efficacy of our Saviour's death. But the ¼>rd hates the deed!!. of such men,: and may he help us to hate thein too,. '.l'J,ie Church at Ephesus ha~ed .them, and are especially commended, of the Lor4 for that they did so. But now the l.,ord says to them, "One thing thou lackest.". Surely if ever the~e w11,11 a. Church tb,i.t_tseemed able to ask, without fear of an unfavourablti reply," Wha( la.ck we yet?'' thi,& Church was such a .one; but now, behold, the Lord twns from colll,lllendation to- It. T:ii:E CENl!URE. '' !have •••. because thou hast lett thy fir~tlove·;• (ver. 4).. -4nil thiMiensure i.s very grave. It speaks of the conduct it conden;rns as: I. A grievous fall. "Ren;wmber •.. whence thou a.rt fallen,''· That which they,had left and Jost had lifted thsm,high in the Divine love, had made them exceeding precious in his sight. But now afil was changed. The Lord looked not• on them now as he once did ; they had . "wit}j., sharr.ie to take a lower place." 2. A calling for prompt and p,·acti~l repent- ance• . They "1'ere to " repent" and " do" th01r " first works." . 8. Terrible in its. conse- quer.ces if there were not this repentance (ver. 6). Let Gibbon t-:iit how, after more than a th,;msand years had paljl!ed-sueh was the Lord's long-Bufferi)lg-the dreadful thr~at was.fulfilled, and the light of the lamp of gold that represen~d Ephesus was, with '"1). the rest, faithful Smyrna and Philadelphia alone excepted, pnally quenched. Than u the captivity or ruin of the sj'jven Churches of Asia ~as eo,11summated; and the barbarous lords of Ionia and Lydia. still trample on the monum~ts of classic and Cliril>wm ~ntiquity. In the loss of Ephesus, the Christians deplof'ld the fall of the fir$JI imgel,· the extinction of the first candlestick of. the Revelation; the desolation is co:i.nplete; and the temple of Diana or the church of Mary wi}1 equally elude the sQarch of the curious traveller. The_ circus and three stately thea{r11s of Laodicea. a.re now peopled with wolves ll:Ild foxes; Bardis is reduced to a miseraole village; th.e god of.1;rii,homet, without a. rival or a son, is. invoked in the mosques, of Thya.tira. and Pergaino11; and the populousness of Smyrna is supported by a.:foreign trade ot the Frl!,nks and Al'1Jlenian11. Philadelphia alone has been saved by· prophecy or courage• .,U a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperors, encompas,sed on all sid.es l:,y the Tud,s, her valiant citizens defended their. religion and freedom. ~'bove four scqre yiiars; and a.t length. capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans: Among the. Greek <