LECTURE V. REVELATION ii. 28. And I will give him the morning star. THE epistle of which we are now about to treat, is addressed to the Church of Thyatira, and will present us with a view of the Church of Christ, differing most widely from those which have preceded it. We have, in the former discourses, beheld the visible Church of the Redeemer, as portrayed in the first epistle, in her apostolical purity; in the second, in her faithfulness, devotedness, and poverty, during the era of the martyrs; in the third, as suffering from the temptation of outward prosperity, when Christianity had become the dominant religion of the Roman world; but in the present epistle we shall see her, as exposed to greater perils than had ever yet assailed her, arising from a far more dangerous source, even from the ✓ prevalency of internal error; and from the ruinous effects of false teaching within herself. The preface of this epistle is remarkable, as in the preceding cases, for its beautiful appropriateness to the lessons which are to follow. "These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass."* The great and glorified Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, is about to speak of the errors and misconduct of His people, and he therefore reminds them that there is nothing which can * Revelation ii. 18. escape His eyes of fire; "all things," as the apostle says, " being naked and opened unto Him with whom we have to do." But then he is also about to threaten destruction to the followers of Jezebel, "I will kill her children with death,"* and therefore He reminds them of His "feet of brass," with which He had already trampled upon the old serpent, and with which he will assuredly tread down every enemy, as among that ser-v pent's brood. We proceed to the substance of the epistle itself; but before we do so, we would call your attention to one feature common to all the seven epistles, except the last. It is this, that however grievous be the errors of the particular period to which our Lord refers; however low the spirituality of that Church's state of which He speaks, there is invariably a portion of the epistle addressed to the true believer; to the real people of God, who * Revelation ii. 23. |