The Apocalypse of St. John - eBook

It is to the Angel (or Bishop) of the Church at Ephesus (i.e. to the diocese of Ephesus, the chief city of Asia, as we should now say,) that St. John first writes. The town owed its wealth and position to its being the most frequented trade-route into the interior, and to the cult of the heathen goddess Diana, who temple was one of the wonders of the world. It was for long the abode of St. John, and it was probably there that Our Lady died. Notice the consolation conveyed in the second verse of the letter (ii,2). Our Lord is with us all days, even to the end, and does not forget His own. He “knows our labour ” (and the Greek word for “labour” here is a very strong one, and means “labour till you drop from sheer weariness and exhaustion”). The presence of false apostles, of liars, has been the special trial to those who have endured for His Name,” and “have not fainted.” It is the same today: the relaxing atmosphere of religious indifference, which we daily breathe, is apt to sap our strength, and cool our fervour. And such had been the case at Ephesus, as verse 4 tells us. Read verses 4 and 5 with great care. The warning is so stern, yet so kind, so full of hope that “penance” (a change of mind, as the word emphatically means), will come, and restore all things-At least in their loss of fervour there has been one virtue to which they have clung-the virtue of holy purity.

Sharply, and as in a spirit of triumph, is this saving fact here placed on record in verse 6. “But this thou hast -it is thy own-it has made thee the friend of thy Lord- it has kept thee the child of Mary, His Mother for “thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaites, which I also hate!” (Of the Nicolaites more will be said later on. They are named again in verse 15). Thus with a word of praise to him that overcometh” (a phrase of frequent occurrence) “to him that fights the good fight, and daily takes up his cross,” the first of these seven Letters (of which we may say in passing that they are the very finest “spiritual reading we could desire), draws to a close. Perseverance in grace is the chief lesson of this Epistle, and its concluding verse points to self-denial as the essential condition of being the friends and faithful servants of Our Lord to the end.

The city of Smyrna, situated some thirty miles from Ephesus, was one of the most famous and beautiful cities of the ancient world. Its situation was magnificent, making it a great port and centre of trade, while the surrounding country was most fruitful and fair to behold. Though evangelised later than Ephesus, the Church had quite early found a footing there, probably in the days of St. Paul, and when St. John addressed to it this Letter, it was ruled by the saintly Bishop, St. Polycarp, who had been appointed to the see by St. John himself, and who was martyred about the year AD. I 54. Owing to the silting up of the River Cayster, the trade of Asia Minor was diverted from Ephesus to Smyrna, which is still one of the richest cities in Asia, with a population of about 250,000 inhabitants, nearly half of whom belong to the Russo-Greek Church. The name Smyrna has a mystical meaning. It is a Greek word, meaning myrrh (one of the gifts of the Magi to Our Lord), a reddish aromatic gum, bitter to the taste, used for making incense, and for embalmmg the dead. The name is, therefore, emblematical of patience and endurance under suffering and persecution, and the Epistle to Smynra is an epistle to those who mourn, who suffer with Our Lord, who are tried as gold in the furnace.

Hence Our Lord, in its opening verse, gives Himself precisely the title which will convey the greatest measure of comfort and encouragement to His readers. He is “the First and the Last-true and to be trusted from beginning to end-the One Who was dead, Who for our sakes became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, Who loved us and delivered Himself for us, but rose from the tomb, with death no longer having dominion over Him, with glory and empire awaiting Him. And as it was with the Master, so shall it be with the Disciples. He can speak freely to us of our trials, for He has tasted their bitterness. “I know,” He says, thy tribulation and thy poverty”-words of tender pity and comfort, that came also in the Letter to Ephesus-words of the Good Shepherd Who can say: “I know Mine, and Mine know Me.” (Jn.,x,14). “But thou art rich rich towards God ” (Lk., xii, 21), rich for Eternity, for “where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Mt., vi, 20; cp. James, ii, 5-7).

And the Epistle proceeds in the same strain: “You are blasphemed by them that say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” Smyrna being an excellent place for the making of money, the Jews were strong and plentiful there, and were noted for their hatred of the Christian name. In this passage they do but represent all those who thwart us, who are unkind and make life bitter for us, who take a morbid, sinful pleasure in lessening the brightness of our days. How awful is Our Lord’s description of those who thus break the law of charity! He calls them “the synagogue of Satan,” yet, He continues, “fear none of these things.” “Fear not them that can kill the body, and then have no more that they can do: fear only those who can scandalise one of these My little ones.” (Mt., x, 28). As to these, they are children of a hard face, and of an obstinate heart; they are a provoking house,” yet “fear none of them,” though “you be sent as sheep amid wolves.” “If they have called the Good Man of the House Beelzebub, how much more them of His household? Be ready for stripes. Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days.” Ten days! Not more! As we might say : “for a week or so,” and then the end shall come and the reward! It is a curious and a striking phrase, almost, if not quite, unique in all Scripture. It means “a short time,” quite vague, and indeterminate, but at any rate, “the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to come.” (Cp. Our Lord's words: “a little while,” in St. John, xvi, 16-22; also cp. II Cor., iv, 17; I Pet., i, 6-9; v, 6-11). Wherefore, “be faithful unto death,” and you shall receive “the crown of life” (for which phrase cp. James, i, 12), and “shall not be hurt by the second death”-a phrase peculiar to the Apocalypse (cp. xx, 6, 14 ; xxi, 8), which is really the same as the “hell,” or “gehenna,” spoken of by Our Lord in Mt., v, 29; Mk., ix, 43-48; Lk., xii, 5.

Throughout the Epistle to Pergamus, we find a tone of severity, which contrasts strongly with the compassionate tone of the Epistle to Smyrna. Pergamus was situated in Mysia, in Asia Minor, and was noted for its beauty, its public buildings and library, and for the number of its heathen temples. It was the residence of the Roman Governor, and a very centre of hatred of the Christian name, and of all the abominations and impurity connected with the pagan worship of false gods. We may easily imagine how difficult was the life of those who were followers of Our Lord, not only because from time to time at least they must face persecution and even death itself for the Faith, but also because of the degenerate and immoral atmosphere they had to breathe, making the pursuit of holiness and the maintenance of purity the more difficult. Yet in spite of this, an Epistle in quite severe tones is addressed to them - “To the Church of Pergamus, write: These things saith He that hath the sharp two-edged sword.” So it opens, without one word of excuse for the difficulty of their position. The severity which thus arrests our attention, serves also to emphasise the importance of the lessons to be learnt. “I know where thou dwellest, where the seat of Satan is.” Such is a picture of the city! Poor little flock, their pastures lie where the seat of Satan is, and the Shepherd knows it well. So far there is sweetness and compassion in the letter, and it continues a moment in the same strain. “And thou holdest fast my name, and best not denied my faith.” In the midst of all the Caesar-worship of Pergamus, in the midst of sin and infidelity, “they had held fast to the Name Which is above every name,” they had bowed their knee to none save to the adorable Name of Jesus; they had not denied their faith, but had confessed Christ and Him crucified, before men.” Nay more, as the Epistle goes on to say, one of their number had shed his blood for the faith: “Antipas, my faithful witness, was slam among you, where Satan dwelleth.” We know nothing more of this blessed martyr, but there, “Where Satan dwelleth,” he had “counted fill things as dross, that he might gain and suffer for “Christ.”

So far, so good; but there is fault to be found. “I have a few things against thee.” We need make no emphasis on the use of the plural number. It is the phrase we have heard before I have something against thee” - something serious, something inexcusable, something to be changed, and quickly changed. What is it? “Thou hast there in thy midst them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, eat (things scarified to idols) and to commit fornication. Thou hast also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaites.” This passage requires some explanation. It refers to a well-known event in the history of God’s chosen people, recorded in the Book of Numbers, xxxi, where the false prophet - Balaam, untrue to his lights and sacred calling, taught Balak, the King of the Moabites and the enemy of the Israelites, to beguile them into the double sin of idolatry and fornication. And these Nicolaites (the origin of whom is somewhat obscure) disregarded (amongst other things) the restrictions imposed on the Gentile Churches by the Council of Jerusalem with regard to “things strangled and the pollutions of idols” (Acts, xv, 29).

Thus much by way of explanation. What, then, was the sin of those who belonged to the Church of Pergamus? What has Our Lord against them? First, their wrong attitude towards false believers and unsound morals is severely reprehended. They had the faith, and were proud of it; but they had not realised and embraced the high standard of purity and holiness of life which the possession and profession of that faith involve. They had not, indeed, worshipped false gods or idols: but they had clung to the feasts and revelries connected with the pagan feasts and idol-worship. Their purity has been tampered with: they are no longer clean of heart, but sharers in “deeds of darkness which must not be named.” They act as though faith and right morals had no connection, adding sin to sin of a kind that, quicker and more fatally than any other, separates the soul from God. They are allowing the flesh to crush the spirit, forgetting the bitter fruits of the flesh which are, as St. Paul says: “ fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, and such like; of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God” (Gal., v). But “they that are Christ’s crucify their flesh with the vices and concupiscences.” This the Christians of Pergamus seemed to have forgotten; do Christians of to-day forget it also? “Oh, how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: the memory thereof is immortal, because it is known both with God and with men.” (Cp. I Pet., ii, 11, 12.) Is there not reason to ear that the laxity to be found in Pergamus of old, is to be found in our midst to-day, and is daily gaining ground? We live in unlovely times, for they are so impure, and the children of the Church are not innocent in these matters. There is a laxity about readmg, about speaking, about places of amusement, that increases by leaps and bounds; propriety no longer rules, as she did a few years ago; things are winked at now that a few years ago would never have been tolerated; our standard is being dragged down, and a bare respectability is enthroned as queen, instead of the purity that befits the children of Mary Immaculate.