Evening star., 1931-12-12
Sunday School Lesson
BY
Rev. Hugh T. Stevenson.

In the absence Of John, the Risen
Christ was watching over the work Of
the shepherds of His flock. No mes
senger Of the Lord Jesus could fail in
the work of the ministry. II he was
loyal to Christ. The two-edged sword
IN Chrsts mouth ought at least to
teach us that His power is destructive
as well as constructive. No wonder
John was amazed and overwhelmed by
the vision, which pointed out victory
through Christ'S presence, purpose and
power being with His servants and
churches. He Immediately, in accord
ance with the divine command, sent
to the churches, mentioned in Revela-
tons, that are representative of all the
churches OF all time, Christ's message.
Messages to the Churches.
Reading over the messages to the
seven churches. that were ordered sent
to them so that during the trying times
That they would soon face they would
be found true to the Lord Jesus, we
get survey Of their spiritual condi-
tion.. Only one of the seven was not
worthy of being praised, and only one
had such record that the Master did
not point out some weakness or def
cheney. In the church that He pro-
nounced dead, He cited the fact that
there were some connected with its
membership whose lives were not de-
filed by sin. In the other four
churches we find Ephesus was not as
bright as 1t had been while Thyatiras
condition was better than 1t had been.
Smyrna was spiritually equipped to
meet the approaching dangers. The
Pergamum church had demonstrated
It's fidelity through the martyrs in
It's membership who had died for their
faith. In these six churches, although
we know of the shortcomings in five
churches, there existed the evidence Of
spiritual life that would conquer and
triumph.
1t will pay us to consider briefly
some Of the defects In several of these
churches, for we see frequently some
thing of them in some of our modern
churches. In the political capital of
the Province of Asia we find the
church in Ephesus faced three differ
ent types of pagan religions. Ascle-
Plus, the god of healing, had q powerful
following. Multitudes made UP of in
valids, 6ocked to worship the symbol
of the serpent, which was seen in his
temple, hoping to be miraculously
cured. The influence Of Greek religious
cults was seen in the worship of Zeus
and Athena. The Roman called for
the worship Of their Emperor. This
the Christians refused to do, just as
some of them have recently refused to
salute Sun Vat Sen in China. The ref
erence to Satan's throne refers to the
required worship of the Emperor there.
Some OF the members had failed to be
loyal to Christ and had participated
in this idolatrous worship. They
claimed that 1t was not sin, when
they were required to do 1t by the law
Of the land. They were summoned to
repent and urged to overcome the
temptations of the world.
The fault in Thyatira was due to
the influence OF prominent female
member, who was leading many into
sexual immortality and idolatry in the
name Of liberty" advocating that these
immoralities could affect only the vile
body, while powerless to injure the pure
immortal soul. They were warned to
repent If they did not desire to see the
couch Of pleasure changed into beds
Of illness, and learn that such sophistry
could not prevent sin from producing
death. She may have been the one
who claimed to be a prophecies and
who taught the Thyatira Church the
doctrines of Balaam. These false
teachings had also been expounded in
Ephesus and Pergamum. They claimed
that Christians should not eat meat Of
fered to idols, yet they might commit
fornication. How this teaching of
Nicholas, who probably first expounded
it, secured a foothold among these
early Christians is difficult to explain
The influence of paganism and their
low ideals probably played a large part
We are called upon to live clean, and
to courageously do Christ's work, look
ing to His presence with us to aid us
to overcome and obtain the promised
crown.