Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1941-09-04

GOLDEN TEXT-Be thou faithful unto
death. and I will give thee a crown Of
life.-Revelation 2:10.
The Revelation is so little known
that we need part of our first lesson
for an introduction to the book. The
fact that this is revelation
which God gave to Jesus Christ, to
show unto his servants things which
must shortly come to pass" (1:D,
should make us all eager to study it.
But it is significant that there is
promise Of special blessing to those
who do read O:3). and solemn
warning against tampering with the
book (22:18. 19). Quite evidently God
places great importance on the
reading and study Of this book. Can
we do less?
The book is not easy to interpret.
and men have differed greatly as
to its meaning. There are four gem
eral schools of Interpretation:
ID The preterist. which puts it all
in the past Since many Of its pre-
dictions have not yet taken place,
this view seems untenable. ca The /.
idealist, which regards the book as
being entirely symbolical of spiritual
principles. There is truth to this
view. but it does not cover the his
torical events mentioned in the
Revelation which are yet to take
place in the world (3) The histori-
cist. which regards the book as
mainly an outline Of church history.
This too fails to account for prophe-
cies yet unfulflled. "a The futurist
(Which seems to be the best view);
namely, that chapters two and
three, while relating to actual
churches then in existence, also out
line the entire history of the church.
and that the remainder Of the book
relates to future events. This is the
Interpretation which is largely held
by conservative Bible teachers.
A brief outline of the Revelation is
found GELD in the book itself:
/. 1.-THE things which thou hast
seen" (John's vision)-chapter /.
g. '"The things which are" (the
seven churches)-chapters 2 and 3.
8. '"The things which shall be-
(the six sevens; namely, seals.
trumpets, personages. walls. doonls.-.
and new things)-chapters 4 to %.
Our lesson portion brings before
us two of the seven churches Of
Asia-Ephesus and Smyrna-with
their lessons for our day.
1. The Ephesus Church-Active
but Cold, and Facing Judgment
Gid.
Following the salutation and the
glorious vision of the Son of man lido
not fail to read it, Rev. 1918, John
the apostle, who was the one to
whom the vision came, is directed to
write to the church at Ephesus. adj
dressing it through ''the angel of
the church. We do not know who he
was, but since the word means
messenger, it may refer to lead
ing officer or elder.
The picture Of the church at
Ephesus was a very beautiful one.
It was an active church, not afraid
to work, patient under trial, COM
impatient with sin and
worldliness. It was not afraid to
exercise discipline, to discredit false
apostles, and to stand against the
evil works of the worldly-minded.
There would seem that there could
be nothing more said for a church,
but there was a vital note lacking
In activity they were perfect, but
they had departed from their first
love.
What is meant by leaving their
first love? First love is the aban-
donment Of all for a love that has
abandoned all The church at
Ephesus was still a remarkable
church, but it lacked the element of
that enthusiasm, which in the eyes
of the calculating wording, is i'm
prudent. There are some people
who imagine that this lack Of en-
thusiasm is an advantage. May God
have mercy on such. I pray the day
may never come when the heroisms
and enthusiasms Of first love shall
cease" &c. Campbell Morgan).
Repentance was called for. or God
said He would extinguish the light
Of that church. The lesson for W. IL
that cold orthodoxy will kill a church.
ii. The Smyrna Church--Poor but
Faithful, and Facing Persecution
(2:8-1D.
This is one Of the two churches
Of the seven for which there IN no
word Of rebule, Philadelphia being
the other. 1t was a poverty-stricken
church humanity speaking, but rich
in the sight of God. Such a church
may be more useful to God and
more precious to Him than large
church which is cold and Indifferent.
What does He have to promise this
church? Persecution. We who fol-
low Him upon whom men spat, who
was so buffeted and despised, yes,
even crucified-shall we be sur
prised If a hostile world persecutes