Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

only, but "the seven stars" also; that is, that hath the ministers of all the churches at his disposal. For, as the great high priest, he has the whole spiritual priesthood under his controul, and wherever they are sent they are exclusively his gift; wherefore, as the church of England rightly holds, no man should think or presume to undertake this holy office, unless he believes himself to be, in some measure, called or anointed to it by the Spirit of God, as was Aaron.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

'peculiar people, shewing forth the praises of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light," they were, like the rest of the world, 'dead to eternity, alive to time;"-and though appointed by Christ to be as the salt of the earth, they had themselves lost their spiritual savour.

In reference, we may suppose, to the appointed watchings of the priesthood in the temple service, they are exhorted to watch, and strengthen the things which remained, that were ready to die; for as the lamps of the golden candlestick required constant and stated trimming and replenishing with oil; and the sacred fire of the altar required continually cherishing; so the graces of the christian are ever ready to languish, and except maintained by our constant endeavours, through the influences of the Holy Spirit, must be ever on the wane.

Christ, having thus revealed himself to the Church of Sardis, rebukes them for contenting themselves with an empty profession of religion. They had a name to live and no more, for they were dead" in trespasses and sins or, if not arrived at that stage of corruption, had lost all the life, energy, and vitality of religion, -resembling the Jews, who, when they were in their worst estate, prided themselves only so much the more upon being the children of Abraham; and especially the priests, when they were satisfied with their names appearing in the genealogies of the race of Aaron, while they were little attentive to render unto God an enlightened and spiritual service; respecting the inutility of whose dead works, and their unaeceptableness in his sight, God thus expostulates by the mouth of his prophet: "To what purpose is the 'multitude of your sacrifices unto 'me, saith the Lord, I am full of 'the burnt offerings of rams,-I delight not in the blood of bullocks, -bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths I ⚫ cannot away with." The professors of the Church of Sardis too much resemble these their forerunners of the legal priesthood: instead of sustaining the character of a ' royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pent; as are the churches of Ephe

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

66

Christ, as the great high priest of his church, declares that he had not found the works of the church of Sardis "perfect before God:" whereas the consideration that the priest's office under the law required perfection, so that none who had any defect of body were permitted to officiate,—and the requirement of the same perfection in the paschal lamb, and in all their sacrifices, without which they could not be presented before God as an acceptable offering,-should have inculcated upon the professors of the church of Sardis, as a spiritual priesthood, the necessity of aiming at perfection; as our Lord also taught his disciples in the precept "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

Verse 3. They are then exhorted, in reference to these declensions, to remember how they had received, and heard, and to hold fast, and re

sus and Thyatira, in the preceeding epistles; and as the Hebrews were thus exhorted by St. Paul-" Call ' to remembrance the former days; for ye have need of patience, that ' after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise: for yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not ' tarry."c In reference also to the appointed officer or captain of the temple, going his rounds at uncertain hours, in order to ascertain that every one of the priests and Levites, who had the guard of the temple, was at his post and watchful, our Lord further warns them, that if they should not watch, he would come upon them as a thief in the night, and they should not know what hour he would come upon them. In like reference to the ordinances of the temple service, the church of Christ has already, by the pouring out of the sixth Apocalyptic vial, been warned of his approaching coming; lest they should be taken by surprise and unawares. -"Behold, (he says at this time,) I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame :" (Rev. xvI. 15.) the allusion being here also to the visits paid by the Captain of the temple, and to the punishment inflicted by him, who, going his rounds at night with torches, if he found any sleeping on their post, as an evidence of the fact, and as a deserved disgrace, set fire to their garments; as David cut off the skirts of Saul's robe, in order to prove the fact of his having had his life in his power when he was in a deep sleep; and as the king of the children of Ammon did to the servants of king David, with the design of inflicting upon them a great public disgrace. How far in the present day every c Heb. x. 32-37.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

individual amongst us has, by comparing the records which Christ has given respecting the awful event of his second coming with the manifest signs of the times, or by other means, endeavoured to obey this injunction of watchfulness, must be left to each one in his own case to determine.

Verse 4. Christ recognises a few names in the register of the priesthood, that is, a few of the professing people of the church of Sardis, who had continued to walk in the brightness and purity of their first profession, and had not by their sinful declensions defiled their priestly garments these our Lord declares

[ocr errors]

I shall walk with him in white." And though the imputation of Christ's righteousness, indicated by the gift of the white priestly garment, is a privilege enjoyed by the believer in Christ in every step of his progress, and is that indeed by which, becoming a believer, he passes from death unto life;—and though it is also described as the reward first bestowed in the heavenly state upon the martyrs who had fallen by pagan persecution; in the enjoyment of which they rest waiting until the purposes of God shall be matured, and the time appointed for their open vindication and exaltation shall arrive ;d-yet the promise here made by Christ, that the faithful of the church of Sardis should walk before him in white, must rather be referred to the new Jerusalem or eternal state, of which it is said, when seen in vision by the apostle, "The glory

[ocr errors]

of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof." And it is added, (borrowing a figure from the literal Jerusalem, considered as the city of the great king, and the metropolis to which all the tribes went up to worship,) "the nations ' of them that are saved shall walk d Rev. vi. 11.

[merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

as excluding them from the priest. hood. If the evidence which they brought of their descent from Aaron was defective, they were

clothed in black, veiled in black, ⚫ and dismissed in disgrace. But if they could prove their descent,

' and were free from blemish, then they were enrolled among their

I brethren, were clothed in white

ed are they that do his command-raiment, and consecrated by the 'ments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates of the city; 'for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, ' and idolaters, and whosoever loveth ' and maketh a lie." (Rev. XXII. 14, 15.)

[ocr errors]

Verse 5. The promise made by Christ to the saints of the church of Sardis, of being partakers with him in his priestly character when he shall be manifested as a priest upon his throne, is in this verse again repeated" He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment." And in reference to the genealogies which the priests were particularly careful to keep, that they might prove their descent from Aaron, and their right to officiate before the high priest in white, he adds," And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." For want of their names appearing in the registers of the descendants of Aaron, it is mentioned in Ezra 11. 62, that some of those that returned from the captivity in Babylon were, as polluted, excluded from the priesthood; and we read in the account of the regulations of the temple service at a later period, that the Sanhedrim sat daily in a particular apartment, "it being one of the

[ocr errors][merged small]

accustomed offering." From the disgrace of being publicly rejected from the priestly office, those of the church of Sardis who should overcome in their present arduous contest are promised an exemption; as well as a permanent enrolment in its registers, or in the book of life.

The same allusion to the books containing the names of the priesthood, spiritually called the book of life, appears to be made in the description given of the day of the general judgment, Rev. xx. 11, 12

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

"I saw a great white throne— and I saw the dead small and great stand before God; and the books

were opened, and another book was opened which is the book of life, ' and the dead were judged out of 'those things which were written

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

all the holy angels with him, then 'shall he sit on the throne of his glory."" Then shall the king say ' unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 'the foundation of the world." And at another time he solemnly declared to his disciples this awful truth, Whosoever shall confess me be'fore men, him will I confess also · before my Father which is in heaven; but whosoever shall deny me ' before men, him will I also deny I before my Father which is in hea'ven." For he will say to them placed on his left hand, "Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his 'angels ;" and those not found written in the book of life, will he cast into the lake of fire.- "This is the second death." (Rev. xx. 14, 15.)

[ocr errors]

But from such dreadful condemnation all those shall be exempted who like the saints of the church of Smyrna shall have been faithful unto death; or whose names, like those of the church of Sardis, shall be found written in the book of life; nor shall the names of any be blotted out of that book, who shall have preserved the purity and whiteness of their priestly vestments undefiled by spot or stain; or rather shall have washed them, all polluted and defiled as they are, and made them white," so as no fuller on earth can white them," in the cleansing and all-atoning blood of the Lamb.

The Church in Philadelphia. The sixth epistle is addressed to the church in Philadelphia, once a flourishing city of Asia Minor: to whom Christ reveals himself in his regal character, as having the key of David; and the circumstance that the revelation of Christ in his priestly character has, in the order of time, preceded this, may be explain

ed on the ground, that the epistles are addressed to the churches, and that in such addresses the priestly office naturally precedes the regal. That there is really a significancy in the actual order of the revelations of Christ as contained in these epistles may be inferred, not only from their own internal evidence, but also from other similar instances of peculiarity and marked design in the order and arrangement of the several parts of the Apocalypse, Thus, in the temporal history of the Roman empire, as divided into its distinct western and eastern branches, that of the western branch comes first, as communicated by the voices of the Cherubim, (Rev, vi. vII.) on account of its territory containing Rome the metropolis of the fourth empire, which was the ruling one at the time the Apocalypse was written; and the history of the eastern branch follows, as communicated by the voices of the trumpet angels, (Rev. VIII. IX. X. 1—7) because from its territory (formerly the seat of the three first empires) the dominion had then passed away. On the contrary, in the detailed history of the church of Christ, similarly divided, (Rev. XII. XIII. XIV.) that of the eastern church comes first in chap. XII. 1-6, for the church not being any where dominant, the question of precedency can have reference only to past or future time; and the possession of the holy city Jerusalem, with its temple, the scene of the actual past manifestations of the divine presence, and the predicted scene of future still more glorious manifestations, naturally entitles the eastern territory to the preference in all that relates to the history of the church; whence arises the circumstance, already noticed, that throughout the Apocalypse the closest connexion is maintained between it and the church; one evidence of

which is now immediately before us, in the fact that the epistles to the churches are addressed only to those situated within it.

This consideration of designed arrangement confirms our view of the revelations of Christ in the third and fourth epistles, as having reference to his divine and human nature. For what other than these (we may ask,) could have the precedence of those, in which he makes himself known as priest, and as king. It confirms also our view of the epistles, as being addressed to the churches under extreme tribulation, and magnifies the unspeakable love of Christ, in this respect,-that all his other glories are as it were veiled and superseded by it; whence his first manifestations to his churches, thus circumstanced, (as contained in the two first epistles) are those of his caring for them.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

The complete revelation of Christ made to the Church of Philadelphia is as follows: These things saith 'he that is holy, he that is true; he 'that hath the key of David; he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth;" the words, "he that hath the key of David," referring us to the passage of the introductory vision chap. 1. 18, where our Lord says, "I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore; Amen, and hath the keys of hell and of death." These symbols imply the possession of an universal dominion, even over the invisible world; for immediately after his resurrection from the dead, (by which, as the apostle states, he was declared to be the Son of God with power,) he revealed himself to his disciples as having all power committed to him in heaven and in earth. (Matt. XXVIII. 18.)

Isaiah Ix. 6, 7 predicts the future reign of Christ as "the son of Da

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

vid;" by which name he was known to the expectant Jews." Unto us a child is born,-a son is given ;and the government shall be upon his shoulder;-of the increase of his government, and peace, there 'shall be no end; upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it with judgment and 'with justice from henceforth even ' for ever." He also in similar language typically predicts his future reign, when thus speaking of the high-priest, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.- And I will commit the government into his hand, and the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so that he 'shall open, and none shall shut ' and shall shut, and none shall open." Jeremiah also prophecies of the future reign of Christ, as the Son of David: "Behold the days come,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Da

saith the Lord, that I will raise 'unto David a righteous branch; ́ and a king shall reign, and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice upon the earth." vid also in the 72nd Psalm describes the glories of the millennial reign of Christ under the figure of that of his own son Solomon. The predictions relating to the Messiah in his regal character are also frequently worded as if relating to David himself, as being an eminent type of him; and David, in the Psalms, when apparently speaking in his own person, is frequently speaking exclusively in that of the Messiah; as is observed in Acts II. 25—31, with respect to that particular prophecy, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption." Jeremiah xxx. 9 and Hos. III. 5.)

(See

Answering to the above predictions, in which Christ is spoken of as the son and successor of David, (or even as David himself,) it is shown in the gospels that both Jo

« AnteriorContinuar »