T. Austin-Sparks · 1 of 4
The First Lamp - 'A Garment Down to the Foot'
Introduction
Reading: Revelation 1:4-18.
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ..." (Rev. 1:1).
"And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God" (Revelation 4:5).
There is, perhaps, no book in the Bible that has resulted in more confusion than the book of the Revelation. To mention alone, by name, the many conflicting schools of interpretation that it has produced, would be but to open the door to the confusion. And yet it is quite certain that God never intended any part of His Word to lead to confusion. Confusion is not a characteristic of the Lord; He is not a God of confusion. It therefore becomes necessary that we seek to reduce the message of the book to some simple conclusions; and I think the first three chapters, which form a distinct section, may help us to see how the whole book can and should be reduced to such a simple conclusion. We can leave the place names, for the moment; forget Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and the rest, as names, and as places; we can, indeed, leave much of the symbolism - not all of it, because some of it is so obvious - but what we cannot understand we can leave, and we can resolve the section in this way:
Eternal Spiritual Principles
We have to recognise, firstly, that we are here, in these chapters, in the presence of timeless spiritual principles. It is true that they are being applied to particular conditions, situations, and places, but there is something more here than the place and the time and the particular situation. There is a spiritual factor that is governing everything. We are in the presence of those factors which are more than local, more than geographical, more than of a time setting: they are age-long - indeed they are eternal. The very first thing, therefore, that we have to recognise and grasp as we come to this book, and to this section as an example, is this: Here we are being presented with something that is in the mind of God, which touches all these situations that are set forth here; and what we have to do is to get hold of what that is in the mind of God. It is one thing, though it may have many aspects; and to get hold of that one thing is the key both to this section and to the whole book. I will not mention, for the moment, what it is, but we shall come to that presently.
The Lord Calls to Account
Secondly, we are in the presence of one of those critical points - it may be the last - when the Lord calls to account for all that He has given. That is, of course, quite clear in this section, and in fact it governs all the rest of the book. The Church and the churches had received much from the Lord through His apostles and other servants: they had a great wealth of spiritual inheritance. And when the Lord has done anything like that at any time in history, it is as though, at given points, He comes back and says, 'Now, what about it? I have given; I have revealed, I have made known; I have entreated; I have implored; I have ; I have exhorted; I have warned: now, the time has come when some reckoning has to be made, and an answer given.'
The Lord has, as we know, done that more than once in history; but here we are in the presence of such an occasion, of such a crisis. I say, it may be the last, because this book does stand in relation to the end - to the Lord's coming - does it not? Here is a principle, as well as a time application of the principle. The nature of the crisis is this. The Lord is saying: 'How do you measure up to all that I have given you? How do you stand in the light of the whole deposit that has been made with you?' This crisis is a very serious one, since it involves the issue of continuance or discontinuance: of whether the vessel, the lampstand, remains or is removed. It is a crisis that involves the whole future.
The Lord's Desire is to Bless
Thirdly, we are here made aware that the Lord's desire is to bless. His is a positive attitude, not a negative one. While He has to put His finger upon the things that are lacking, the things with which He does not agree, you notice that He invariably ends His inquest with: 'To him that overcometh will I grant...' The Lord's desire in every case, with every situation, however bad it is, is to bless; He is on positive lines. There may be rebuke, there may be exposure and uncovering; there may be warning; there may be exhortation: but there is a promise suspended before everyone - a wonderful promise. None is obliged to face doom, since all are offered the alternative of the good pleasure of the Lord.
He may condemn, but His condemnation is to clear the way for blessing. He may have to judge; He may have to break; but that is to provide the ground for blessing. He may warn with a solemn voice, but His warnings are coupled with His desire that these people should come into something more of His , of His goodness. And we cannot read these promises to 'overcomers' without being profoundly impressed with this - that it seems that the greatest delinquents, those who have failed most, are offered the highest blessing! So it was with Laodicea. You cannot get any further than 'to sit with Him in His throne'; yet that is the offer to Laodicea. All the things that are judgeable are found there, but the highest reward is offered. It is from the very depth to the very height - that is His thought for His people.
Finally, and supremely, we are confronted with that for which the Lord is looking, and, it must be said, that without which He cannot the continuance of a vessel of testimony. That is the point upon which our message turns. What is it that the Lord is looking for? Now, many things were thought, by these churches, to be the things that the Lord was looking for, and they were not. It turned out that they were just not the things that the Lord was looking for. He had His own object before Him, and He could not be satisfied with any lesser or other alternative.
That is a summary of this first section, in the first three chapters. I hope that you can see what is the supreme thing - that only, that essentially, for which the Lord is looking when He has given so much to His people.
