“The Church of the Living God” (1 Tim. 3:15)
The testimony in which the faithful are called to walk in the last days has a twofold character. First, it is a witness to the unity of the body of Christ, formed by the Holy Spirit sent down at Pentecost. Second, the whole church having failed, the faithful have the character of a remnant in maintaining this testimony, and this too in the midst of a great baptized house, the responsible body here on earth, commonly called “Christendom.” This testimony can never aim to be more than one to the failure of the church of God as set up by Him. The more true to Christ the remnant of His people are, the more will they be a witness to the present state of the church of God and not to its state as first displayed.
Now there is found in the Word of God, for example and comfort, a faith which counts upon Him and His divine intervention in the face of man’s failure: a faith that finds itself sustained by God according to the power and blessings of the dispensation, and according to the first thoughts of His heart when He set up all in primary power. He connects that power and the Lord’s own presence with the faith of the few who act on the truth provided for the present moment, even though the administration of the whole is not in operation according to the order which God set up at the beginning.
Anna of Asher
For example, the blessing of Asher in Deuteronomy 33:24-25 ends with these lovely words: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be,” and all went to ruin, as the history of Israel unfolds. Yet, at the first coming of Christ, when the godly, pious remnant of the people were “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” we find one of that same tribe, “Anna a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser [Asher] ... a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:36-37). She was in the enjoyment and power of that blessing of Moses — “So shall thy strength be.” And the Lord Christ Himself became identified with that obscure remnant, of which she was one, a remnant that was ready to receive Him when first He came.
The Captivity of Judah
In the days after the captivity of Judah, we find the returned remnant, in all the weakness of those who could pretend to nothing but the occupation of the divine platform of God’s earthly people. To them we find these comforting words addressed: “I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not” (Hag. 2:5). Their faith is recalled to that mighty day of power, when Jehovah “bare them on eagles’ wings and brought them to Himself” and removed their shoulders from the burdens of Egyptian bondage. Undimmed in power, He was with them, just the same, for faith to claim and use. No outward displays were theirs, but His Word and Spirit, which proved His presence to faith, wrought in that feeble few: To them is revealed the shaking of all things (Heb. 12:27) and the coming of Him who would make the “latter glory” of His house greater than the former. They are thus the link between the temple of the balmy days of Solomon and that of the day of coming glory, when He shall sit “a Priest upon His throne,” and the counsel of peace shall be between Jehovah and Him, and He shall bear the glory (Zech. 6:12-13; Hag. 2:7-9).
He will shake the heavens and the earth and overthrow the throne of kingdoms (Hag. 2:21-23), thus identifying all His power with the small remnant of His people who walk in company with His mind. He will make all to come and worship before their feet and know that He has loved them.
The Moral State of Philadelphia
Thus, too, those who answer to the calling which suits His mind, as seen in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13), are true to that which, though not a perfect state of things, is suited to the state of failure which faith contemplates. He makes them the link, the silver cord, between the church of the past as set up at Pentecost (Acts 2) and the church of the glory (Rev. 21:9). The overcomer will be made “a pillar in the temple of [His] God,” in the “new Jerusalem” on high.
Let me here remark that there never was, and never can be, a moment when that which answers to this calling will cease till the Lord comes. In the moral picture presented in these two chapters (Rev. 2-3), we find all the seven features together at any moment, as they were when He sent the messages, and remaining so. In the dark ages and those of more light in later days and now at the end before He comes, all everywhere who answer with a perfect heart to the measure of truth which He has given them are morally Philadelphia. Others may have more light, but the true heart that walks with Christ in what it knows is known of Him and is what is contemplated in Philadelphia. Historically there is an unfolding in the state of each of the seven churches, each larger feature coming into prominence and presenting the salient characteristics of the professing church, till the church becomes a remnant in the message to Thyatira and develops into those which follow. But morally Philadelphia represents those who answer to Christ’s heart at all times and in all circumstances since the Lord gave those messages, till His threat — “I will spue thee out of My mouth” — is finally executed. In the historical view, Philadelphia comes in after Sardis and is exhorted to “hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” But as long as His voice is heard by faithful souls, they, wherever they are, form the link between the church at Pentecost and the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, in the day of the glory. Every moral state in all the seven messages remains from the beginning to the very end. There are at this moment, as at the beginning, those who have left their first love, those who suffer for Christ, those who are faithful where Satan’s seat is, and so on to the conclusion of the whole.
John and Paul
Beside all this, we should never forget that John is watching over the decay of that which Paul unfolded and telling us what Christ will do with that which bears His name. For our own path, we get no directions but to listen and “hear what the Spirit saith to the churches,” for we do not find church ground unfolded here. John never gives us corporate things, but individual, and he never instructs us as to the church of God, although fully recognizing its existence. When we are therefore grounded and settled in that which never fails — the one body of Christ, formed and maintained by the Spirit of God on earth, as taught by Paul—we may turn with deep profit to John and these messages and learn what Christ will do with all that bears His name. But from Paul alone can I learn what I am to do in the midst of such a scene. I am to be an “overcomer” according to the mind of the Lord, and this can never be by abandoning that which His Spirit maintains on earth.
How important, therefore, to be thoroughly grounded in the truth of the church of God, which remains as long as God’s Spirit remains and His Word abides—“till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
F. G. Patterson (adapted)