The Angel
in Revelation 2&3
is
the
Assembly
We now pass to " the things that are." The
stars are in Christ's hand; He speaks of them first; He walks in the midst of
the assemblies. The latter are light-bearers, the assemblies or assembly as set
in a given position, and viewed as such before God; not what the people became,
but what the assembly is in His sight; just as Israel was His people whatever
the Israelites became. The stars are that which is held by Christ to give light
and have authority, what He holds responsible to this end before Him. It is,
in a certain sense, all composing the assembly therefore, and so it is often
said in the addresses to the assemblies; but more especially those who stand in
responsibility through their connection with Himself, the stars in His hand.
They should shine, and influence, and represent Him, each in its place during
the night. That the clergy gradually took this place, and in this sense are
responsible in it, is quite true; but that is their affair to answer for
themselves before the Lord. The Spirit does not so take it here. They assume it
as honour; they have it as responsibility. If ever they were called
"angels," it was evidently just this assumption, and taken from this
place. Again, it cannot be doubted that leaders, elders, or others, were in
a special place of responsibility, supposing them to be rightly such. In Acts
20 they are so treated; but the Spirit does not so own them here. Christ
does not address Himself to elders, nor to the modern notion of a bishop, which
did not indeed exist then. Nor is a diocese [8]
thought of in these addresses. You have not the authorities (elders) spoken
of in scripture, of which there were always several; and this passage of
scripture cannot be applied to human arrangements as now existing.
What then is the angel? It is not a symbol, properly
speaking. The star is the symbol, and it is here seen in Christ's hand. It is
(as angel is always used where it is not actually a heavenly or earthly
messenger) the mystical representative of one not actually seen. It is so used
of Jehovah, so used of a child, so spoken of Peter. Elders may have practically
been specially responsible from their position; but the angel represents the
assembly, and especially those to whom, from nearness to Christ and
communion with him, or responsibility for it through the operation of His
Spirit in them for His service, He looks for the state of His assembly in His
sight. No doubt the whole assembly is responsible, and therefore the
candlestick is removed when unfaithfulness is brought home to it; but Christ is
in immediate communication with these in respect of it — a solemn thought for
all who have the good of the assembly at heart.
The way in which the angels and the assemblies are
identified, and any distinction in the degree or manner of it, requires a
little more detailed attention. That the assemblies are addressed in their
general responsibility, in the addresses to the angels, is evident. For it
is said, "What the Spirit saith to the churches." It is not a private
communication to an authority for his direction, as to a Titus or a Timothy,
but said to the assemblies; that is, the angel represents their responsibility.
So we find distinct parts of them noticed. " The devil shall cast some of
you into prison;" " fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer
:" , "but I have a few things against thee, thou hast there :",
" My faithful martyr who was slain among you :", "But unto you I
say, the rest in Thyatira" (so it is to be read). Yet the angel and
assembly or candlestick are distinguished: " I will remove thy
candlestick out of its place." " Thou sufferest that woman
Jezebel."
But this separation between the angel and the
assembly does not take place in the last three assemblies. The angel is
addressed throughout. As to them too it is only said, Christ has the seven
stars, not that He holds them in His right hand. In Smyrna and Philadelphia
there is no judgment; they were tried, as faithful, and encouraged. As to
judgments, or rather warning threats — in the case of Ephesus, which presents
the general fact of the assembly's first decline, the warning is given that the
candlestick would be taken away unless thy repented: that the assembly did not,
we know from scripture and fact, and these assemblies looked at as a successive
history. In Pergamos and Thyatira the offenders are those specifically judged;
in the case of Thyatira fearful judgments on Jezebel and those connected with
her: she had had time to repent and had not; but here the change of everything
is looked for at the Lord's coming. All this shews the angels to be the
representatives of the assemblies, but morally such; Christ's warning to be
addressed to them (as we can easily understand to be the case in any who had
the interest of the assembly at heart), whom Christ trusted with this; but to
be so far identified with the assemblies that it concerned all who composed
them, while particular judgments were denounced on guilty parties.
Note #8
Except in the new world, those called bishops are
always bishops of a city, shewing, historically that dioceses are a subsequent
arrangement. Angels were not chief officers of the synagogue.
A section of JND Synopsis
on the end of Revelation Chapter 1.