Rev I Tape 2 by Malcolm Smith Christ in the Churches

Revelation Chapter 1 v 10

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet saying ‘Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and Laodicea, and I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned saw seven golden lamp stands and in the middle of the lamp stands one like the Son of Man clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded across his breast with a golden girdle, his head and his hair were white, like white wool and snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and in his right hand he held 7 stars and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw Him I fell at His feet as a dead man, and he laid his hand upon me and said, Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last, and the Living One and I was dead and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades’.

You will notice in the last verse, in verse 20 ‘As for the mystery of the 7 stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches’.

In this first vision, and I would like you to note the visions as we go through and we will gradually begin to see how each one contributes some understanding of the present age in which we live, in relation to the first coming and the Grand Finale coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we come to this particular vision, I want you again to get into the head of John, who has gone to a cave which overlooks the Mediterranean, there is good tradition on the Isle of Patmos if ever you are travelling in the Mediterranean area, you can go to Patmos today, and the cave they will take you to, the tradition is good, and there is every reason to believe that it was in that cave that John went, and it says that it was on the Lord’s Day. The Christians of Ephesus were the very first ones to describe Sunday as the Lord’s Day, and by the time 95 they were beginning to call Sunday the Lord’s Day and it arose from a Roman tradition. The Roman tradition was that the day of the week on which their emperor ascended to his throne during the lifetime of that emperor it was called Emperor Day. And so if the Emperor ascended the throne on a Wednesday, then Wednesday was called Emperor Day every week during the reign of that emperor. The Christians in that part of the world began to call Sunday the Lord’s Day because Jesus rose from the dead and ascended His throne and was crowned the King of the Universe. So Emperor day was put aside and the one day of the week which celebrated Jesus was called the Lord’s Day. How John got the permission to go to his cave and there worship Jesus on the Lord’s Day, I don’t know. Maybe it was because he was so old they said let the old man do it – it was certainly not a Roman tradition to have Sunday set aside to have time to worship anyone, let alone the God of the Christians.

But he finds himself in his cave on the Lord’s Day and as he is worshipping he hears a sound behind him which he states is the sound of a trumpet. In v. 10 I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, and I will point out 2 things, (1) we are right into the world of symbolism immediately. He did not say he heard a trumpet. He said he heard a voice like the sound of a trumpet which immediately tells me you are looking for something else. Now my question is as I approach that is what is the symbolism of a trumpet? When I read of a trumpet in the Book of Revelation if it is a book of sign, symbols and tokens, what am I to expect?

Now I go back into the Old Testament. If you were a student of the Old Testament you would very readily remember in the Old Testament the very first time you hear the sound of a trumpet in a significant way. That would be in the 19th chapter of Exodus and there you find that it was a sound like that of a trumpet that called them into the presence of God, the whole company of the Israelites are gathered there in chapter nineteen of Exodus and it says that as the whole of Mt Siniai quaked with the presence of God and great thick darkness on the top and the lightning was shining it was then like a great trumpet sounded and called all the people to hear the words of their covenant God speaking to them. It is significant when the New Testament unveiling of the New Covenant that John is arrested by a voice that sounds like a trumpet calling him. It is a call to the whole covenant people of the New Testament. – Come and hear the words of the New Covenant. Come and understand what your God has done for you.

And as he comes he turns and he sees which if we interpret it literally he sees something quite grotesque. It is a vision of Jesus. There is no doubt about that as He identifies Himself, I am the First and the Last, I was dead, I am alive, there is no question as to who it is, but if I am going to say that that is a literal thing that John actually saw as if that was the Jesus he saw, then I say that that is grotesque when you think about it. The white hair, eyes which were in themselves flames of fire, out of his mouth a great sword sticking, feet that were glowing like brass in a furnace. The whole thing is grotesque. To think of Jesus with a sword coming out of His mouth, if that is a literal thing that John actually saw was the physical person of Jesus, John saw Jesus, but what he saw was beyond words and the only way he could describe what he saw was by the symbolism by which Jesus chose to present Himself.

And so he sees this one who is girded with a robe, who has the white hair, whose eyes are as fire whose voice is like many waters, whose words are like a sword, whose feet are like burnished brass, whose whole person is shining like the midday sun – what does all that mean?

Think just a little consideration without going too far at all will tell us what it means. First of all, the robe as it is described, the long flowing robe with the belt around the breast, that was the robe of the ancient judges. In fact this whole picture as we shall see has much to do with the judges. A judge in the ancient world was dressed in that fashion, and so here the person who John sees is the one who is the final authority among men. He is the one who is man’s final and ultimate judge. His hair is as white as snow – now again, a symbol among judges is white hair, if you go to England the judges there still wear white hair. As soon as you become a judge you are given a white wig that comes in nice curls all the way down onto your shoulders. When you are a mere attorney you have a little toupee wig, a little thing hanging down the back, but it is white just the same. Every judge has a white wig, every attorney a white toupee and if you can’t go to England go to Bermuda because you will see it there because the English left their mark in wigs. Why do they do that? Why is it that white hair is always associated with a man who is able to discern and to judge? You notice that in Proverbs it talks about white hair being the sign of maturity and wisdom. I think it is a small thing to think of. As soon as you think of it –you have got it, that white hair always speaks of someone who has been around a long time they have found out all the answers and they can discern and can judge, except that in this case it is white as snow. In Daniel chapter 7 you read of one who is called the Ancient of Days and of, his white hair, this one is not merely one who in times language has been around a long time This is the Eternal One whose hair is as white as snow, here is ultimate wisdom; here is ultimate discernment, here in this person is met the wisdom of God. If you would really understand this person one could stay with that hair for a long time. You will find him in Proverbs Chapter 8 where wisdom personified speaks of His eternal relationship with God the Father, you will find him in I Corinthians 1.30 where it says Christ is made unto us Wisdom, or in Col 2.3 where it says that in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The ultimate wisdom of God is focussed in Jesus Christ. So when I see Him He is the judge of all men, who judges and orders the affairs of men in absolute wisdom, which is achieving the most perfect end in the most perfect way the glory of God.

What about his eyes? His eyes were as flames of fire. Fire that burns through all of our masks. Burns through all that appears in order to discover what really is. Remember in John 10 Jesus spoke of Himself as the Shepherd which would fit this – the eternally wise shepherd, the final authority in His flock, who says, I know my sheep. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, but we both stand before the ultimate Shepherd whose eyes are as flames of fire to burn through all the facades and masks and we are known better than we know ourselves. I think Paul speaks of that when he says that no man judged him and he didn’t judge himself either. He says there is one who judges me. He says if I went by the judgement of men I would be a dead duck long ago. If I went by my own judgement sometimes I would be a dead duck, because if I am in despair I judge myself without mercy. I prefer to place myself beneath the gaze of the eyes as flames of fire. He knows me perfectly.

Of course this is a terrifying experience as well as a glorious experience. When Isaiah met this one whose eyes were as a flaming fire, of course it does not state that in Isaiah 6 but the intimation is there – he suddenly met with someone who knew him perfectly, and said, ‘I am undone’. When Saul of Tarsus was known even as he was known, he fell from his horse and said, ‘Lord, what would you have me do?’ It is that coming into the presence of that One Who knows me perfectly.

His voice, it says that voice was like the sound of many waters – when I was studying this book and trying to fathom what that really meant – I knew what it meant, but what did it really mean? I was in Buffalo at the time when I was studying it, so I took a trip to Niagara Falls, and stood by the sound of many waters to hear what it sounded like. The sound of many waters is the sound of majesty. You stand by Niagara Falls and it is the sound of majesty. It is a sound of awful, frightening power, yet there is a harmony there when you think of all the water there going over the falls, and yet it sounds as one sound. It is a sound of perfect beauty, perfect harmony, awesome, frightening power and a majesty that strikes wonder in the heart. Said John, when He spoke it was the sound of many waters. He says that His voice reduced me to fear and yet at the same time it exhorted me to worship such beauty such harmony, it struck awe, it struck wonder, I will never forget His voice he said, and the words that were in that voice they were like a sword coming out of His mouth. A sword that defeated all enemies that would attack the Church. But at the same time a sword that pruned His own Church. Remember the Scripture says that the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Remember in Hebrews 4.13. it says that the Sword, God’s word is able to divide asunder the soul and spirit, that is the only word that can, so that in that majestic, beautiful awesome wonderous voice the words defeat every enemy and at the same time cut away all the excess growth, all the undergrowth that is hurting His Church.

His feet like burnished bronze in the fire. Those of you that were with us in the Exodus Leviticus and Numbers series will remember that brass is that of judgement. Whenever you find brass in the Bible if it is a symbolical context, it is speaking of judgment, and so the judgment is in His feet. He walks. He says that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His Church. Wherever He goes all His enemies are judged before Him. Remember when they took the Ark in the Old Testament, every time the Ark moved, Moses was to bring the whole camp to say the words ‘Let God Arise and His enemies be scattered’. When David wrote a Psalm to that effect, Psalm 60 or 68? Where he begins the Psalm with those words. It was written on the occasion of the Ark being taken into Jerusalem. And it begins, ‘Let God Arise and His enemies be scattered’, then He goes on – let them melt like before Him like wax melts before the flame and be blown away like smoke before the wind – you get the picture of the enthroned God marching, marching as He comes with feet like burnished brass, His judgment scatters His enemies they melt like wax, they disperse like the wind nothing can stop the onward march of the Church of Jesus Christ. His feet are like burn like brass.

The face that shone like the sun? The face sums up the whole person. If you were to get a photograph of me, I don’t think you would appreciate it of my knees – I could say, well that’s me! You would only appreciate a front view of my face and if I gave you a front view of my face, even though it is a limited part of my body you would take that as a picture of ME. No other part of me would do to describe me, but my face would do. When you look at the face of Jesus it describes His whole person. And it says that it shone like the sun. There are references throughout Scripture to this shining – Malachi 4 – it says that the Sun of Righteousness would rise with healing in His rays, and the result of His touching us with the rays of His Sun is that we would leap and dance like calves in the stall. Then do you remember in Corinthians chapter 4 it says that the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in the whole person of Jesus there has burst into the darkness of our world the full sun of God’s love, and God’s grace and God’s mercy the finality of God’s plans.

So now remember what we said, we are not looking for details – we run through those details to get the whole picture. What did John see when he turned around in that cave? It was as if he was looking into the full face of the sun. Someone was speaking, and their words, he said, he would never forget them, such majesty, such beauty, such harmony, so terrible, so wonderful. The words cut me and at the same time defend me. I see as He walks nothing can stand before that one. He is so wise, is the Wisdom of God He is the ultimate judge of all men, he saw Jesus and when he saw Him he fell at His feet as one dead.

There is a great difference between the Jesus who walked among us in the flesh and the Jesus who is ascended King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When John was with the Jesus who walked among us in the flesh, you remember he laid his head on His shoulder, whispered in his ear, such intimacy, but when he saw Jesus as He is now, he fell at His feet as one dead. Paralysed with fear, wonder, love but unable to move. I think in the book of Revelation we are going to catch a glimpse of such a Jesus, and you will lose your taste for many songs which are being sung – in the book of Revelation we are not dealing with Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth is now Lord. I think we must constantly take into consideration Philippians chapter 2 – it is the key to the Christian understanding of Jesus. Jesus is the Name of His humiliation. When I am talking about Jesus I am talking about God in coveralls. He is God come among us, that is His human name – even his enemies called Him Jesus. Christ is His title – even demons called Him the Christ, but God has highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow and confess He is Lord, and no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit says I Cor 12. What is that Name that God gave Him which is above every Name? That Name is LORD and from the moment that Jesus rose from the dead they always addressed Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Messiah.

When John met this one in the cave he did not go and put his head on His shoulder, he fell at His feet as one dead! You can put your face on the shoulder of 'Jesus of Nazareth' – he was God completely clothed in flesh among us, but upon ascension He Is man who has fully realized Godhood, He who eternally was God fully realized manhood and when He had totally accomplished His Father’s purposes as man, he was man who totally understood Godhood.

That little baby – I am not awestruck before that little baby, I don’t believe anybody fell on their faces before that little baby – I certainly do not believe that the little Jesus running around had a halo anymore than I believe that Jesus as an adult had a halo. Only at times when they saw a miracle did they say ‘you are a wonderful person!’ But after He was ascended he fell at His feet as dead, because there he saw the fullness of deity expressed in glorified manhood. Here is the author of this book – Jesus, glorified Lord, and here is the subject of the book – Jesus glorified Lord unveiled, and He described Himself, I am the First I am the Last. That is I am before all history, when you have added up all the Firsts of earth, then put me next. I am the First before all firsts, all beginnings are because He is the unbeginning beginning. All first things on earth are because He is the unbegun first. I am, I am - not I was, for I was would be a simple statement of time. But I am is unbeginning and unending, it is the ever-present, and so eternally I am first, so wherever time says first, you go back into unbeginning and He is always First, Unbeginning First, and He says, I am the Last – therefore everything of the future finds its consummation in Him. All began because He is the First, and the only meaning and purpose of all that is, is to find its consummation in Jesus Christ. There is no meaning to history unless Jesus Christ is the key. I say that not as a raving charismatic, I say that as a student of history, that there is no meaning to the history of the nations of this world unless you find that focused in Jesus Christ. He is the First, He is the Last. That is the Great Confession of the Church.

I think that it is about time the Church began to confess something about history, instead of merely confessing things in an auditorium like this where we all agree with each other. Out there on the streets, out there in the forum of the marketplace. When we talk about history and when we talk about what is going on in the world, we do so with the smell of God’s Son on our tongue, that people know where we stand, that there is a First in our life and there is a Last. In the world today you have the Eastern philosophy where history is an endless circle of rebirths and reincarnations, around and around and around. You have the existentialists where there is no past there is no future, history is the throbbing now. Then you have the Christian who says, we began there and we are moving here and we are going there. We are those who believe that history is an on-going line to a grand consummation which is the final ultimate unveiling of Jesus – I am the First and I am the Last.

He says, ‘I am the one who was dead and am alive’. This book is the unfolding of history, or shall I say is the THE interpretation of history in the light of the first and the last. It tells me this is happening today, this is likely to happen tomorrow because of where we are going, because of where we came from. And it says the whole thing sums up in a Living Person – He was dead but He is alive for evermore.

There then follows a symbolic picture of Christ and His Church. You can’t talk about the Christ who ascended without in the same breath talking about His Church. The Christ who ascended just does not hang there in time – the Christ who ascended has joined Himself to millions of people, so that speaking of the day of His glorious ascension He said, ‘In that day I will be in you and you will be in me’. In that day the day of His ascension you cannot speak of Jesus it is being there. In that day He is always joined to His people.

There follows a very beautiful picture of Jesus Christ and His Church, and as you are taking notes I would like you to try and draw it because it would help you to see it. Remember we are trying to see what John saw. You have seen, I am sure, pictures or models of the candlestick which was in the Temple. It has seven branches. One two three on either side, six, and the centre one, seven. And there are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven lampstands on the top. All of the arms of the lampstand join to a central stem, so every one of the six come to the side of the stem and the seventh, the one in the middle goes into the top of the stem, but all join to the stem. Take a look at what John saw, he said, I saw this One and He stood in the midst of seven candlesticks or lampstands. I am proposing to you, because I have tried to get into John’s head and see what I saw as I continued to read that. He saw Jesus in that glorious picture that he saw of Him and He was the central stem, and he saw all seven lampstands all connecting directly to Jesus.

And in the last verse of this chapter which is the first Vision Jesus Himself gives us the interpretation to that Vision. It is almost to get us started. It is going to be a whole book of symbols but this is the first one and he tells us what it means. He said the seven lampstands are the seven churches and so you have at the centre, the glorified ascended Jesus and vitally united to Him you have the seven churches. So not only is He the Lord of the Church which we have just seen with His white hair and the robe of the judge of authority, not only is He Lord of the Church but also the Life of the Church for out from Him is going the life of those churches.

What does that say to us? It tells me there is only one candlestick there - it would be absolutely ridiculous to say that there were seven. There is one. Ah yes, one, yet seven, seven yet one. And so it is, he was writing to seven distinct local churches. There were 7 of them, yet they only made up the one total expression of the body of Christ in that part of Asia. And so wherever you find a local body of believers, they are the light of that area. They are a distinct entity, yet because they are connected, vitally, mystically to the risen Christ they form a part of the one whole body of Christ , all over the world. Take it further. I think it very interesting in that symbolic picture that not one church was jointed to another church. Not one church was joined to another church.

Can I go one step further and get myself beheaded before the evening is over, it says that he held in His hand the stars which were the pastors or elders of the churches. I don’t read that the stars were sitting on top of the candlesticks. They were in a very special position, in the right hand of power. But they were not lording it over every one of the lamp stands. The only source of life, the only source of authority to each distinct local church was the person of the ascended Jesus Himself. There was no star lording it over them, and certainly the middle lampstand did not have it in over the sixth one. Each was equal, each found its own mystical union with Christ, and I make bold to say that denominationalism as we know it today is an abomination. The politics, the dictatorships, the lording it over the flock of God by a hierarchy, all is an abomination to God and the rise of denominationalism which we see coming like a snake in this charismatic renewal is just as abominable. If we had the time to go through these seven churches one by one, we would see how it was creeping in, how men were trying to dominate the Church of God. And the very first Vision of the Book of Revelation says that every church with all its members have a vital union not to one leader nor to any other church nor to any other hierarchy outside of that local church but each member directly linked together to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything less than that misses the point of this Vision. It is to Him, to Him alone.

If anybody outside of the local church away in Timbuktu is trying to tell a local body of believers what to do, they have no right to do that. If they are trying to tell you that next Sunday is Baby Day and you have got to preach on babies, tell them – Go Fly! You get your message directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, not from a headquarters. And if someone is telling you that you can’t think and that you can’t read the Bible until they tell you what it means, then they are doing what I Peter 5 deliberately says they must not do – that is dictating and lording it over the flock of God. Our union is mystical but it is directly to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice, that every church is described as a light-bearer and notice this, when John as a representative of all the believers saw Jesus he saw Him shining as the Sun. When he saw the Church he saw it as a candle or flickering light in the darkness. Sun is for the daytime. Candles or lamp stands are for night-time. When you and I look at Jesus Christ, we see Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, ascended in all the Sun of Righteousness risen. The Church only sees Him like that, where Ephesians says, ‘You are the children of the day’. We are not waiting for the dawning. We are children of the day – the Sun has already risen in the face of Jesus Christ, but as far as the world is concerned they have not seen that, nor will they see that until they come into the Church. The only light they see is the Church, so the Church is depicted as a light in the darkness.

Do you remember the words of Jesus Matt 5. 13-16 when He spoke to His disciples, He said, ‘You are the light of the world’ and the Greek there is intense, emphatic, and so could rightly be translated ‘you and you alone are the light of the world’ That is an awesome, solemn thought, ‘you and you alone are the light of the world’ They do not see the ascended Christ.

Isn’t it a wonder to you that Jesus never showed Himself to Pilot? Quite frankly, and I speak facetiously, if I had been Jesus, after I had risen from the dead, I would have got the greatest kick out of appearing in Caiphas’ bedroom! Why didn’t He? In my study of the Bible one of the questions I always ask is why doesn’t it do or say what I thought it would say? Really it would have completely finalised the whole issue. If Jesus – why appear to Peter – and John –they are going to believe it anyway, let us start where the action is - let’s go to Caiphas, Annas, Pilot, convince them, at least only to show them that they are wrong, the rest is easy. Not one unbeliever saw Jesus after He was risen. Only the believers saw Jesus after He was risen. The unbelievers only saw the Church in action. All the Church could ever say is that ‘By what Name do you do these things?’ All the Church could say is ‘that you have filled all of Jerusalem with your doctrine’. All they could say was ‘We command you never again to speak about the resurrection or about this man named Jesus’. The Church could smile. They had seen Him. The world was threatened because there was a light flickering rather strongly in Jerusalem, that gave them the distinct impression that that Church had seen more than they had seen. The world will never see the beatific vision of Jesus, that you and I have seen, our spirits know that we know that we know, we walk out into the world and we act in such a fashion, we speak in such a way there follows us certain signs of such a fashion, they get the distinct impression that we have seen the sun and the result is that we are a candle in the darkness. I believe that is what it is saying.

Of course once you are a light in the darkness, the result is darkness hates lights. If you spend two days in intense darkness and someone puts all the neon lights on it is going to hurt your eyes. And for the people who have been in the darkness, and the light comes on, suddenly that hurts. Turn the lights out. I was in some very deep caverns, the name of which escapes me, and part of the tour of those caverns is that when you are underground very deeply when there is not one ray of light, they extinguish all the lights, and I think for the first time I knew what darkness was. You could not see your hand whether it was in the front of your face, and then they asked one person to strike a match, and I didn’t know one little match could give so much light. It seemed all the lights came on when one little match was lit in that deep dark cavern.

The one person out there in the world seems like all the light of God has been turned on, and there rises from within the darkness a hatred of the Church for you see the fact that we are united to Christ is that we are shining in the world, and therefore the world’s hatred of Christ is taken out on us. That is why Jesus said you are going to be persecuted for my sake, you are going to be thrown out of the synagogue, you will be put to death for my sake, because if it was not for Him we would not be touched, so that is why Jesus accused Saul of Tarsus, ‘Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me?’ He was not really touching the Christians he was touching the Christ he saw in the Christians. That is why he speaks to the seven Churches. This Vision is the peculiar message of Jesus to His Church. The rest of the book will deal with the world too. This, the first introductory Vision is Jesus talking to a Church that has been beaten up, losing their jobs, thrown out of their homes and living in caves, dying for the sake of the Gospel, banished to islands.. You are hurt, you are beaten you are persecuted. Of course, you are lampstands in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t like you. Understand the honour, understand the dignity that is yours, for they would never touch you except you were not mystically united to the central stem of the candlestick who is none other than the Sun shining in all His righteousness.

So here you begin to see the picture – here were the seven churches, seven real churches from the outside there is coming at them a very real devil with very real persecution through very real governments and within them there is the working of the world and the flesh and here the central stem of the candlestick is reaching into this one and saying ‘Ephesus, I have something to say to you’. ‘Pergamos, I have something to say to you’. ‘Now look Philadelphia, don’t worry, I know they are trying to shut doors but I have got doors that are open and no man can close them’ And so he goes from church to church, He Who is their central stem, their life, their Lord. He says there is Satan coming at you, don’t worry. Now watch it you, if you are to carry on as you are I am going to take you away. And so it unfolds, it is the message of the stem of the candlestick to all the lampstands.

He is telling them it only looks as if the world is triumphant. It isn’t really so. Things are not what they seem to be. All that He asks of the Church is that they maintain that mystical vital union to Him, and as long as that is in correct order, nothing from the outside can ever move them. It is as if He is saying, I am going to give you a Vision, and show you that Satan is already defeated so that you can relax about that, don’t get all uptight about the Devil, he is already defeated. It’s all over. I know it doesn’t seem like that, but I am going to give you a great big long movie to show you it’s over, it’s done, so don’t worry about him. And I know the world is ferocious, and the world is breathing fire all over you now poor little candlestick and you just feel that you are melting away, now don’t worry the world is already defeated. When I rose from the dead I said, ‘Be of good cheer’ I have overcome the world, it’s alright, it’s all done -don’t worry about the world, I will handle that, I have swords coming out of my mouth and burnished feet. Don’t worry about that, we will handle the world. What I am really afraid of is that woman on the beast – the world, the seductress, from the inside. Now church you had better take account of that, watch and pray. Watch that that mystical vital union is kept fresh and real at all times, and that is the message of the seven churches.

I personally do not see anything symbolic in these seven churches for they were seven real churches to whom these letters were sent. He is telling them now you had better shape up. Ephesus I want you to remember, you have lost your first love. You are becoming very formalistic, very legalistic, in fact you have fallen into ceremony, you tend to be pharisaical. It is amazing isn’t it? Acts Chapter 19 they so loved the Risen Lord and so lived in a fervour of love towards Him, remember they burned all their magic books, paraded through the streets, it was there that the great riots of the goddess Diana occurred, it was a furore of revival. When was that? About AD 55 – 40 years before this. 40 years – Ephesus you have lost your first love, repent, or you are going to have your church removed. 40 years – they had not become apostate, they were still in their first charismatic renewal. Really, 40 years, not very long, and it was at that same time while Paul was preaching every day in Ephesus that Paul founded these churches – they all came out of that, so they are all in the same condition.

Smyrna, they were under heavy persecution because they would not join the unions, and so it is a word of comfort. Pergamum – they had yielded on the inside to the world system and the flesh as had Thyatira too.

Sardis was being attacked on the Inside by false religions, Philadelphia was quivering under heavy persecution while Laodicea had its bingo parties and rolled in its affluence and said we are the best and the biggest, you should have seen our Sunday school roll last week. And to those Jesus said, I have excommunicated the entire church, there is no more church in Loadicea. However, if anybody should hear my voice, above all your committee meetings in there, I am on the outside of the church, I am standing on the outside of the door knocking, having excommunicated all of you, and if you want to start a new church, come and you and I will sit down and sup together.

It is quite a list of seven real churches and every one of them that existed in that day in the conditions that were spoken of then, can be found among us today. I do not believe it is true that you can find seven ages of the church history. I believe that at any time in church history you can find an Ephesus, at any time in church history you can find a Laodicea. I believe it is a slander upon 20th Century Christianity to say that we are living in the Laodicean age. I object. There are some who are still living in Acts 19. It is an absolute slander on the church to say that we are living in the Laodicean Age. I can take you to plenty of Laodicean churches, however, I can take you to some Philadelphia churches – they are all here today, and I don’t have time to measure your heads, so if the cap fits, wear it.

God is speaking to the Church. Remember that the blessing is for all ages, wherever I find myself, the book speaks to me, and right in this room there are people and you come from this body and that body and you know that you as an individual as well as along with other Christians you are mystically vitally united to Jesus Christ. It is a great sense of relief that God did not give us a hierarchy to lord it over us. It is also an awesome responsibility that He is the Lord who lords it over us, and His words are a sword and He comes and finds us where we are and He warns us the that outside influences have all been dealt with, don’t worry you are going to get enough visions to make you laugh for joy. We had better deal with you first because that is where you have something to do. And so he gives us those seven letters, and at the end of the letters He says ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear’ That doesn’t mean to say that if you have something hanging on the side of your head. Those ears are physical ears, they pick up physical vibrations, not everybody has inside ears, though. That is why He says, If you have ears. Jesus said ‘My sheep hear my voice’ only sheep in the Shepherd’s flock have spiritual ears, that was something God gave you when you were born again, you grew ears on the inside. And the mark of a born again person is the ability to hear what the Spirit is saying. If you’ve got ears, said Jesus, use them. See with those inside ears you hear things you don’t want to hear, and as with all listening you have to choose whether you want to hear it, even as you are choosing to hear what I am saying to you now. My words are falling on your ears, but you choose whether you want to hear them listening to me. And with inside ears we hear the voice of God.

I would not like to have been the pastor of the Laodicean church – can you imagine that wretched document coming foro a Sunday morning service. Got to read it to them, ‘Unto the Church which is at Laodicea. Tighten your seat belts, this is for you, and he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Only a percentage of that Laodicean congregation would choose to hear what the ascended Lord sent to them, and so throughout church history only a percentage have chosen to hear what the Spirit says. The awesome warning to those churches was that unless they repented He would remove the candlestick from its place. If ever you tour the East visit Ephesus, the ruins are still there, but you will not find a strong Christian church. In fact over the centuries it has been removed. Go to Thyatira, Go to Pergamum – the ruins are still there, but the candlestick has been removed, for where you have a company of people who are not vitally now united to Jesus Christ you do not have a church. It’s gone.

Our land is a garbage dump of buildings and on all the garbage cans it has got written 'church', but a can with the sign ‘runner beans’ on the outside if it is on a garbage dump it does not mean to say there are any more runner beans inside. The can meant that once upon a time there were beans inside. But the existence of the can does not mean that the beans are still there. Do you follow what I mean? Up and down the streets of this town in which we are standing, there are a lot of cans and the very existence of those cans and the words "Church" written on the outside tells me that once upon a time Christians were in there. It would not have been built if that were not so. That does not speak in any way to the present moment – the candlestick many times has been removed. For a church is constituted by a company of people who are vitally mystically through the new birth is joined to Christ, and anything less than that is not a church. So solemnly the risen Lord came to each one of the candlesticks and though in the condition they were, yet they still had spiritual ears – they are going fast, the avalanche has begun but they still had ears, and said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear, or the awful result will be that there will be no candlestick here soon.

So to some in this evening’s two lectures we are presented with a symbol but I think it speaks very well for itself it is a solemn symbol, it is a glorious one even as the central figure of that Vision is both solemn, awful, glorious, beautiful and it is the only time in the book, the only Vision in the book that makes the Christian cringe. All the others make you dance for joy. But this one makes you cringe. This is the first Vision. Because without this one being heeded, the others mean nothing. The beast is overcome the world is already defeated, Satan is already done, but so what if the Church is not vitally linked to the ascended Lord? So what? And so I finish with the words, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’. Amen.

The original set of 12 tapes can be obtained from Malcolm Smith's web site.
They are suitable for group study.

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