8 I know thy works. Behold, I have put before thee an open door which none can shut, because thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not 9 denied my name. Behold, I will make those which are of the synagogue of Satan, which say that they are Jews and are not, but speak falsely; behold, I will make them come and worship before thy feet, and 10 know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which is about to come upon the whole world to try the inhabitants of the earth. 11 I am coming quickly; hold fast that which thou hast, 12 that no one take thy crown. He that overcometh,

him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall not go out of it any more; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my new name. 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God (He

14-22. Laodicea is the type of many a church and many an age, but especially of the Church of the latter days. There is little

1

religious persecution in a lukewarm, proud, self-ignorant, wealthy and prosperous Church. Persecution begins in such a

1 The Greek word here rendered 'beginning,' signifies the primal cause, origin, and ever-sustaining power,' rather than the beginning as regards time. It is the word used by the Greek Fathers to express that which was afterwards called the Substance' of the Godhead in the Athanasian Creed. The Son is without beginning as regards time, but not as regards Cause. He is, by an eternally continued act, begotten of the Father, who is the sole Basis of Deity.

Who is, like the Father, the first and the last, the origin and the end of all creation, being himself that Person of the inseparable Three, by whom all things 15 were made' 1) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 Thus, because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot 17 nor cold, I will soon cast thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest (to thyself), I am wealthy and prosperous, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and pitiable, and poor, and 18 blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest 19 see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten; be 20 zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with

church when its rulers are disturbed and their worldly interests threatened by the indignant zeal of the reformer. So it was with the silversmiths of Ephesus; so it was in the ages of the Reformation; so it ever will be so long as human nature remains the same. Such a church can only be called to repentance by the chastening judgments of God. The love of God will save its more faithful

members by chastisements, that they may be awakened to zeal and repentance. The Light of the world' stands knocking long at the door of the lukewarm heart, on which the ivy has grown through long disuse, and the hinges of which are stiffened with rust. Those only, who open the door by zeal and repentance, receive the heavenly Watchman, and inherit His blessing.

Nicene Creed, St. John i. 2, 3, 10; Heb. i. 2, 3.

21 him, and he with me. He that overcometh, to him will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on 22 his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.1

1 The reader will find a somewhat fuller account of the Seven Epistles to the Churches, in their connection with the rest of the Prophecy, in the Practical Interpretation of the Revelation already alluded to, Chapter xiv. pp. 334– 342.

CHAPTER IV.

1 The prophet is entranced and hears himself called up into heaven. 2-11 The permanent scenery of his visions, being symbols of the Trinity, of the Church, and of the whole animate creation.

1 AFTER these things I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in the heaven; and the first voice which I had heard like that of a trumpet speaking to me, said, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things 2 which must be after these. Immediately I was in the spirit, and, behold, a throne was set in the heaven,

1. After the apostle has seen the former vision of the Church in all ages and countries, symbolised by the seven lamps of the Temple and the seven churches of Asia, a fresh picture is impressed upon his imagination, the picture of a door opening into heaven, through which he is invited to enter, that the area of his dreams may be enlarged, and that he may behold the symbols which are now to be revealed to his entranced mind.

It is clear from a comparison of the beginning of the first with the end of the second verse, that the words 'the things which must be after these,' mean 'the visions which are to follow those which you have already seen, and

which are now to be shown to

you.' 'After these things' of verse 1 must mean, after I had seen these visions of the seven churches. And so, 'I will show thee what must be after these things' must mean : I will show thee, if thou comest up into the opened heaven, the further visions which must follow upon those thou hast already seen.'

2-11. Overpowered by the Spirit, he sees a picture which exhibits the Almighty Creator enthroned in heaven, and receiving the adoration of the whole Church, and of every living creature which God has made. The invisible Triune God, revealed by the Eternal Son, is represented to his mind under the

3 and there was One sitting upon the throne; and he that sat was in appearance like a jasper stone and a sardius and there was a rainbow round about his ; 4 throne in appearance like an emerald; and round about his throne were four and twenty thrones; and upon the thrones four and twenty elders were sitting, clothed in white raiment, and having on their heads

visible symbol of One sitting upon a throne, before which seven lamps of fire are burning to represent the seven-fold Spirit of God. The Second Person of the Trinity, as God incarnate, the Son of Man, appears, in the next chapter, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Scion of David, the Lamb which had been slain, having also, like the Eternal Father, the sevenfold Spirit issuing from Him,. having seven horns, the symbols of universal power, and seven eyes, to represent the omniscient Spirit of Deity.

The Church triumphant, reigning in the kingdom of the risen and ascended Jesus, is represented by four and twenty elders, the symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel, and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, crowned and sitting upon their thrones.

The whole permanent scenery of his future visions is completed by symbols representing some of the noblest of God's creatures; the Lion, the Bull, the Man, and the Flying Eagle.

These are full of eyes, that the seer may remember the words of the Psalmist: 'The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord, and thou givest them their meat in due season.' 2 We are reminded by these symbolic forms, of the human-headed, eagle-winged, lions and bulls of Nineveh. It was the practice of the ancients to represent ideas by combining in one figure parts taken from different animals: the strength of the Bull, the courage of the Lion, the swiftness of the Eagle, and the wisdom of Man. And this at once accounts for the appearance of such combinations in the visions of the prophets, and helps to explain their meaning.

The imaginary heaven thus described forms the arena, as it were, upon which the apostle beholds the great Drama of the Prophecy acted out to the end.

Other figures will pass across the field of his vision and disappear, but these symbolic appearances remain all the time vividly impressed upon his imagination.