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Studies in the Book of Revelation j ' BT REV. WM . H. PIKE |
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within, a radius of one hundred miles of each other. There were many more churches in Asia b u t th e Holy Spirit has evidently chosen these seven to set fo rth th e different phases of church life and th e various periods of church his tory. I t is in teresting to notice th a t th ere are seven characteristics of these churches. Each one has a special mean ing, a special way in which it is ad dressed, a commendation, a rebuke, a warning, an exhortation and a promised rew ard. The risen glorified Lord is speaking to each through a church mes senger. The name, Ephesus, means “ first love.” They were a deeply sp iritu al com pany of believers. .Jesus addresses Him self to them as One th a t holds th e ir mes senger, or pastor, in His rig h t hand a n d ,a s One th a t walks in th e ir midst. This is Jesus’ place in every faithful and sp iritual church. They were com mended for th e ir work and endurance, and the way they had disciplined those who would try to bring them into ec clesiastical bondage. Jesus had but one th ing against them , namely they were waning in th e ir first love for Him. They were warned lest they should lose th e ir place as a first-love church, and become a dead church like Sardis, or a lukewarm church as Laodicea. They are exhorted to imm ediate repentance; which is th e only cure for a sinning church or a careless Christian. If they continued faith fu l and overcame they were to feed continually upon th e Tree of Life, Jesus Himself. And notice th a t th e prom ise is personal “To him th a t overcometh.” The promised re freshing is to each individual in th e church. How quickly do th e “Ephesus” churches today become something be-
HE epistles to th e assemblies, as found in th e second and th ird chap ters of th e Revela tion, are classics of inspira
tion. From the study of these alone one m ust believe in th e verbal in spiration of sacred Scripture. Here is a first century message to a twen tieth century church. Yea, more th an th a t— h ere is a message applicable to seven local churches mentioned as ex isting in th e days of th e Apostle John. And still more, they are applicable to all th e churches of Jo h n ’s time, as also to all th e churches a t any one tim e th roughou t th e church age. And even more marvelous still they are applicable in th e ir order to th e different periods of church history— describing th e his tory of the church from the days of the apostles to the coming of Christ to ta k e the church out of th e world. And who knows b u t th a t these same epistles will be for th e instruction of th e Jewish assemblies of believers afte r th e church is taken to heaven. How wonderful is th e bread th of vision when th e Divine Pen begins to write. The places where these churches are said to be located, are real places. Ephesus was a commercial city of im portance and magnificence. Here John lived and made perhaps a home for Mary, th e m other of Jesus. Here Timothy lived and probably died a m artyr. This place of so many sacred memories is now a desolation. Lizards now ru n in and out among th e ruined temples and columns of porphyry. There is a new oity of 200,000 people about two miles from th e old site. So we m ight, if we had space, rela te the history of each place down through Laodicea. They were actual churches in th e province of Asia and located
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