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EPISTLE TO THYATIRA
NOW we come to the encouragement which our Lord gives his faithful people to maintain their integrity. To the steadfast and victorious he promises “the glory and honour and immortality which they seek for.” The terms indeed, in which these promises are conveyed, are not easy to be understood; but, when understood, they are very cheering to the soul: I will, therefore,
I. Explain the promises here given—
The saints at Thyatira had been, as in truth they are in all times and places, subjected to persecution from their enemies: and here our Lord promises them,
1. Honour, when all others shall be abased—
[Now the enemies of Christ reign; and “his people are trodden under foot [Note: Jer_12:10.]:” but, ere long, the state of things shall be reversed. Even in this world the time is coming when “the saints shall possess the kingdom [Note: Dan_7:22.],” and when those who seek to oppress them shall be destroyed with a terrible destruction. Till that period shall arrive, the saints are to bear and suffer all things: but, at the time of the Millennium, when there will be a formidable and almost universal combination against them, God has ordained, that they shall be his instruments to punish his enemies, just as they were when he sent them to extirpate the seven nations of Canaan [Note: Rev_19:11-21.]. Foreign as war and bloodshed are to the wishes and feelings of a Christian mind, there will be no more reluctance in the saints then to execute the commission given them, than there was in the angel to slay in one night all the Egyptian first-born, or one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army. Of that period the Psalmist speaks: “Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds: let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishment upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written. This honour have all his saints [Note: Psa_149:5-9.].”
But this honour will they possess in a far higher degree in the day of judgment. For then will the Lord Jesus Christ “put all enemies under his feet [Note: 1Co_15:25.],” and execute vengeance on them; as God has said: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel [Note: Psa_2:9.].” In the whole of that transaction the saints will bear their part. They will sit with Christ, as his assessors in judgment; and will concur with him in all that he shall do; saying, “True and righteous are his judgments;” and to every one of them we say, “Amen, Amen, Hallelujah, Amen [Note: Rev_19:1-4.].” This is so unquestionable a truth, that St. Paul takes for granted that every saint must be well acquainted with it: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? yea, know ye not that we shall judge even angels [Note: 1Co_6:2-3.]?” Yes, brethren, then will be fulfilled that saying of the Psalmist, “Man, being in honour, abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning [Note: Psa_49:12; Psa_49:14.].”
2. Glory, when all others shall be put to shame—
[Now, the ungodly shine forth with splendour; whilst the godly, if not immured in prisons, are put altogether in the back-ground, in a state of darkness and obscurity. But the time is coming when God will “give to his saints the morning star.” The morning star rises with peculiar brilliancy a little before the sun, when all the other stars of heaven fade away, and vanish from our sight. And so will it be with the saints in the day of judgment. When the fashion of this world shall have passed away as a passing scene or vision, then shall the saints “shine forth as the stars of the firmament for ever and ever [Note: Dan_12:3.]:” then shall be seen upon them the bright radiance of the Saviour’s beams; and they shall, as it were, be his harbingers to proclaim his advent: yes, thus shall “they be exalted in glory [Note: Psa_112:8-10.];” whilst “the wicked,” who once treated them with scorn and contempt, shall themselves “be silent in darkness [Note: 1Sa_2:8-9.].”]
Having explained the promises, I will now,
II. Commend them to your most attentive consideration—
Let your minds, my brethren, rise to the occasion. See, in these promises,
1. What encouragement they afford to the followers of Christ—
[The Lord’s people hare, in this world, their cross to bear, and are destined to follow their Divine Master through much tribulation: but they are assured, that, “if they suffer with him, they shall also reign with him [Note: 2Ti_2:12.],” and that not the meanest of their services shall be unrewarded [Note: Mat_10:42.].” And here I would particularly call your attention to the parallel which our Lord himself has drawn in our text: “To him will I give . … even as I have received of my Father.” Yes, every thing which God the Father has given to his Son, as the reward of his services, he will give to us, so far as we are capable of receiving and enjoying it. Has the Father given to him a throne and a kingdom? such will Christ confer on us also. He himself says, “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me [Note: Luk_22:29.]:” and again; “To him that overcometh, will I grant to set with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father upon his throne [Note: Rev_3:21.].” There is no part of “the glory which his Father has given him, which he will not, according to our capacity, give to us [Note: Joh_17:22.].” And shall not the prospect of it all operate on us, as it wrought on Christ himself, when, for the “joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, and despised the shame, till he sat down at last at the right hand of the throne of God [Note: Heb_12:2.]?” I say, then, “consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds [Note: Heb_12:3.] — — —]
2. What a recompence they hold forth for our poor services—
[Methinks, if nothing more had been said, than that his faithful people should have all their guilt cancelled, and be delivered from the judgments which they have so richly merited, it would have been an ample recompence for all that we could either do or suffer for him in this life. Suppose that such a proposal were now made to one of the fallen angels, or to the rich man that is now lifting up his eyes in hell torments; would he not gladly embrace the offer, and account all his future labours well repaid, even though nothing but annihilation awaited him when he had performed his task? Let us look at our works, and see what they are: tell me if there be one for which you do not blush, on account of its defects? and whether, if they had been a thousand times more perfect, you would not still have accounted yourselves “unprofitable servants [Note: Luk_17:10.]?” But it is not in this way that God magnifies his grace. No: he giveth not in such scanty measure to his beloved children; nor does he so estimate their poor imperfect services. He accounts not all the glory and felicity of heaven too great for them. He makes them his very heirs, “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; that, having suffered with him, they may also be glorified together [Note: Rom_8:17.].” In truth, at the last day the saints shall all resemble Christ. It is said of him, that “he shall smite the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron; and tread the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God [Note: Rev_19:15.].” He, too, says of himself, “I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star [Note: Rev_22:16.].” And this is the honour, and this is the glory, which he has promised to confer on us. As Joshua commanded the captains of his army to come and put their feet upon the necks of the vanquished kings [Note: Jos_10:24.], so will the Great Captain of our salvation make those who have fought under his banners to participate the glory and felicity of his triumphs. Tell me, then, whether it does not become us to “keep his works” with all diligence; accounting “no commandment grievous;” nor hesitating, if called to it, to lay down our life for his sake? Let us keep them then, my brethren, yea, and keep them all, and “even to the end.” Let us “never be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not [Note: Gal_6:9.].” I may further add, that “every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour [Note: 1Co_3:8.].” No doubt there will be a difference in the rewards, as well as the punishments, of men in a future life: for “one star will differ from another star in glory [Note: 1Co_15:41.].” And this may well stimulate us to the utmost possible exertion in the service of our God. But to the least and meanest of the saints shall the recompence be inconceivably great: for the very lowest in glory “shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, for ever and ever [Note: Mat_13:43.].”]