This epistle presents no exception to the general rule which we have pointed out regarding all the seven, viz. that our Lord Jesus Christ presents himself to each Church in that special aspect in which it was most appropriate for that Church to regard him. Here he is spoken of as “he that hath the seven Spirits of God”—a phrase used only in the Apocalypse, and yet, in its meaning, harmonious with all the rest of God’s Word. This leads us at once to observe—
I. Here is a very remarkable expression to denote the Divine energy.
It is one which shows the
infinitude thereof in the Third Person in the Trinity. The number seven is
repeatedly used here. It is the symbol of perfection and completeness. We have
seven Churches, seven seals, seven thunders, seven vials, seven plagues, and seven
trumpets. The expression “the seven Spirits of God”
is found in Re. 1:4 and Re. 5:6, as well as in this passage. There is an invariable
sequence in the coming of life or power from the Persons in the Trinity and a
corresponding one in the upgoing devotion from us to the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost. Blessings are from the
Father, through the Son, by the
Spirit. Our access is by the
Spirit, through the Son, to the
Father. The Energizer in each case is the Holy Ghost. His energy is infinite,
both in variety and measure. It is absolutely full, complete, and boundless.
If, however, this energy is infinite, it can reveal itself. It has done so. For
observe—
II. Here is an equally remarkable expression
concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are here bidden to think of him as having the seven Spirits of God. Having risen to heaven, “he received gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” As Mediator, he has received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He is, in his own glorious Person, the channel of all grace from God to the Spirit of man. He has, i.e., holds the seven Spirits of God. He is not only the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, but he also baptizes with the Holy Ghost. The two are of equal importance. Without one, the other would be impossible. The atoning work was completed on earth; the baptizing work is ever being carried on in heaven. The Gospels record the one; the Acts and the Epistles recount and expound the other. His work of humiliation on earth laid the basis of pardon. His baptizing work as our exalted Redeemer is the secret of power. He has “the seven Spirits of God” (“for the Father giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him”) that he may ever give life and power to those who, with open hearts, long for “all the fulness of God.” Note: The coming together of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of man is the secret of inspiration, revelation, religion, regeneration, and consecration.36 When the Spirit of God unveils a truth, there is a revelation; when he inbreathes into a man, there is an inspiration; when he renews, quickens, and inspires, there is religion, even regeneration, and consecration. The Holy Ghost may either illumine the mind with truth or set it on fire with love. And when his power is exerted in all its sevenfold might, anyone so charged with Divine energy may receive it in any form whatever, for the purpose of fulfilling any kind of life-work which God may have for him to do. There is no limit to our possible equipment for service.
III. This is the special aspect of our Lord’s work
at which a dead Church needs to look.
The Church at Sardi’s was “dead.” It had not always been so. At one time, it had so much vitality that it had acquired a “name” for being full of quick and quickening force. Furthermore, among men, its name still stood. But he whose eyes are like a flame of fire, and who walks among the golden candlesticks, observed a decline in piety. There was as yet the same outside appearance, and yet it was already injured even unto death. We do not read of any opposition or tribulation of any kind that the Church at Sardi’s had to meet; —it was dead.
And neither Satan nor any of his hosts will care to disturb either a dead Church or a dead pastor. Nothing would better please the powers of evil than to see such a Church falling to pieces because there was no spirit to keep the bodily framework together!
It is no wonder to find such a Church’s works defective. “I have not found thy works filled up before God.” Either there were spheres of duty that were altogether neglected, or else those duties were discharged in a spirit grievously lacking in fervor. It is sad indeed when the Lord Jesus sees any Church to be dead!
For
observe:
1. It is incongruous. For what is the
Church? It is, in theory, at least, a company of men “alive unto God,” bound
together for his worship and work. In the world, indeed, death is what we
expect to see; but in the Church—Death here is fearfully out of place. Let us not
think of Sardis as the only city where a dead Church was to be found. There is
very much even now that makes many a pastor sigh and cry, “Oh, the death!” Such
lethargy, inertness, and slumber steal over this Church and that, so that it is
far easier even to move the world than such a Church as this. Surely this is
fearfully incongruous for a Church to be so untrue to its name.
2. This death is needless. For
he who hath the seven Spirits of God is Lord of his Church. He loves to enrich
her with the fullness of life. He is ever ready to hear the prayers of his own.
The gift of the Spirit is the one promise of his Word, and its bestowment is the
one purpose of his life. It has but to be received from him by faith. Then why
should any Church be lagging and flagging? There is no occasion for it
whatever.
3. This death is unnatural. For
it shows that, in spite of the profession of the Church, many in it are holding
on to the world. They put on a Christian uniform and then fight on the world’s
side. One of the terrible punishments of the olden time was for living men to
be chained to a corpse. No less terribly unnatural is it for the name and honor
of a living Saviour to be in any way tied to a dead Church!
4. This death is dishonoring to the Lord Jesus. By
dead professors, Christ is wounded in the house of his friends. For many, a
young convert, coming to the Church as the home of a spiritual brotherhood,
gets there his first chill of disappointment. And if we were asked—Who is most
responsible for the skepticism of the age? We should reply—Dead professors!
5. This death is offensive to the eye.
Spiritual death anywhere is offensive. But, in the Church, which professes to
be the very enclosure of life, it is unutterably so. How odious must it be to
the Lord and Giver of life to see his own Name and ordinances yoked with
spiritual death, especially when he lives and reigns on purpose to give life!
6. A dead Church is in a state in which Christ
calls aloud for a review of its condition.
There
is a fourfold call.
1) Be watchful.
Become so.
2) Strengthen
what is left. All is not lost.
3) Remember
the past—those happy days of receiving the truth.
4) Repent.
It is high time when death has seized on a Church that its position should be
seriously reviewed with the purpose of amendment unto life.
Note:
a) The
life in Christ is not so at the command of the Church as to warrant its
dispensing with all possible care for the maintenance of a continual inflow
thereof.
b) The
death of a Church is not such a death as that of a corpse. Its responsibilities
are not lessened by the fact of its death.
7. This death is most perilous. “If therefore, thou shalt not watch” etc. (Re. 3:3). Thus, again, we meet with the thought that if a Church is not doing its Lord’s work, it certainly will not be spared for the sake of its own. It will matter nothing on the great gathering day of eternity whether any particular Church survives or not. Some Churches make much of their freedom. Some make much of their scriptural order. But life is of more importance than either one or the other. And if any Churches cease to be alive, others with really hearty, earnest life will survive them, though they may be less exact in their form and order. Dead Churches will shrink and sink out of sight, and the Lord Jesus will write a branding epitaph on their tomb: “A dead Church, that once had a name to live.”
IV. In a dead Church, there may yet be some living souls.
A Church, as such, may expire in its own shame, yet there may be in it a few living ones. We can see the reason why the living ones are spoken of here as those “who have not defiled their garments,” for in the old Hebrew Law, death was defilement. A man who touched a dead body was defiled. In Sardis, though the Church was dead, not every member was so. So that it seems there may be, thank God, even in a dead Church, some who, though surrounded with death, never touch it, but live always and everywhere in contact with the Living One, and so “keep themselves unspotted from the world.” Note: A man must be in connection with a living Saviour if he would maintain his life. He must not depend on the Church for it!
V. To living souls in a dead Church, the Saviour has words of cheer.
Here is a promise which is, in itself, a cluster of
promises, but the promises are not to the Church as a Church, only to
individuals—to those who avoid the touch of the dead now, who are daily
overcoming, and will finally overcome.
1.
Living on Christ now, hereafter they
shall walk with him.
2.
They shall be clothed in white raiment
(Re. 19:8).
3.
They shall be had in remembrance before
God. “I will not blot his name out of the book of life” (cf. Mal. 3:17; Phil. 4:3;
Luke 10:20; Heb.
12:23).
4.
They shall be avowed as Christ’s at
last. “I will confess his name” (cf. Luke 12:8;
Matt. 25:34–40).
How strictly the Lord Jesus individualizes in the treatment of souls! If there are living souls in a dead Church or dead souls in a living Church, they will be dealt with by him, not according to the state of the Church, but according to their own. “Every one of us must give an account of himself to God.” As the inner life here was one between Christ and him, so the public acknowledgment of him will be by Christ of him. He will not be confessed “as a member of the Church at Sardi’s” or anywhere else. In the great decisive day, we shall be saved, not as adherents of any name or cause on earth, but only as those who lived on Christ and drew their life from him, keeping themselves unspotted from the world. Note how solemn the alternative—Alive? Or Dead?[1]
36 Cf.
homily by the present writer on Deut. 34 in the ‘Pulpit Commentary.’
[1] Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. 1909. Revelation. The Pulpit Commentary. London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
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