Daily Devotionals

Devotional: July 31st

"And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." - Revelation 3:1.

The seven spirits and the seven stars have a relation to each other. It is the divine Spirit that is spoken of thus; and the intention is not to lower our conception of his divinity, but to exalt it. The Spirit is wholly wheresoever he is; but his manifestations are modified and affected by the exigencies of those whom he blesses with his presence. The unity of the Spirit shall be witnessed in its perfection, only when the different denominations of Christians flow together. He that hath the seven stars and knows their divers conditions, wants, trials, infirmities, and characteristics, hath the seven Spirits, and is able to minister unto each church just what influence and operation of the Holy Spirit may be demanded. The number " seven’ seems suggested by the candelabrum of the tabernacle with its seven lamps. In Revelation 4:5 we read of seven lamps before the throne which are the seven Spirits of God. In v. 6, the Lamb’s seven eyes are said to be the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. As no one could attribute seven eyes to Christ in any natural sense, so it would be wildly absurd for any one to conceive of essential plurality in the Spirit. It is by his divine perfections that Christ is present in all the world; and it is thus the Spirit of God is present.

" I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead." The expression " I know thy works" has been hitherto used in a commendatory and encouraging sense. It was a matter of congratulation to the four churches mentioned in the preceding chapter, that the Lord was acquainted with their works. But it was otherwise with the church of Sardis. The works were such as to proclaim this church dead. The gardener has no difficulty in discerning the evidences that a plant is dead. The persistent absence of fruit when fruit is due, is sufficient to condemn the tree.

It is bad enough to be dead, but, oh, how perilous to be dead with a name to live! The life-giving influences that would seek the merely dead, turn aside from that which professes to have life. Salvation is running to and fro in the earth, seeking the lost; but when it comes near that which professes to be in Christ, it is turned away by the declaration, " I have no need." The more there is of this semblance, (with no reality) the greater the danger. But this is not all. The dead thing that has a name to live, is deadly; it deals in death; it assimilates all around to itself; it testifies powerfully against vital religion by the exhibition of a lifeless religion. If the light in you be darkness, how great that darkness! How mightily grew Sardis! how large the place it occupies in the ecclesiastical history of the last eighteen centuries! how baleful its influence upon the other churches, so that they had almost to hide their diminished heads; and how largely is it represented at the present day upon the earth! Men know our name; Christ knows our works.

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