I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet
saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks;
and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle.
And His head and His hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire;
and His feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and His voice as the voice of many waters.
And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last,
and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter;
the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks are seven churches.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
John was the only one who was serving on the island of Patmos for the word of God. He was thinking about the churches to which he had ministered before he was exiled. How lonely his heart must have been.
He turned back, and he was given a heavenly vision. John was one of the first who followed the Lord, and he was among those closest to Him. He knew the Lord very intimately.
There, on the island of Patmos, he saw the Son in a way he had never seen Him before. He knew all about the Lord when the Lord was on earth. This was the first time John saw the Lord in heaven. It was a heavenly vision.
According to Hebrews 3, He was the Apostle. In other words, He was sent by God into this world.
The Lord Jesus was intensely engaged in His work. He met people who were lame, people who were paralyzed, and people who were dead.
Even though the people were waiting for the Messiah, their concept of the Messiah was political. They expected that He would deliver them from the rule of Rome.
But when they saw that He was not interested in political power, they saw that He was seeking the souls of men.
Jesus turned to His own disciples and asked, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” So far as His mission was concerned, You are the Son of God, sent to accomplish a work.
When Peter said this, the Lord answered, “Blessed art thou,” because this was not revealed by flesh and blood, but by His Father who is in heaven.
Then He said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.”
This was the first time that our Lord Jesus mentioned the word church. The foundation of the church is the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The foundation of the church is Christ Himself. Peter, and people such as Peter, are little stones built upon this Rock.
The Lord said that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Brothers and sisters, these seven churches were the churches to which John ministered.
There was no one who knew the Lord Jesus in the flesh as much as John. In the four Gospels, you can see the depth of his knowledge of the Lord.
For the first time, John began to see what the Lord was doing in heaven. He knew all about the Lord while He was on earth, but now he saw what the Lord was doing in heaven.
The Lord is the great High Priest in heaven, ministering to His churches. In other words, the Lord in heaven is building His church.
He was given a vision of what the Lord in heaven is doing.
We should know better. We are probably all familiar with the work of our Lord Jesus on earth: how He forgave our sins and how He died on the cross.
Everything necessary for our redemption has been done. He is able to save us to the uttermost, and He is at the right hand of God.
On earth, He was the Prophet of God; but in heaven, He is the High Priest. His greatest work in heaven is to be the High Priest to the church.
While He was on earth, He came to seek and to save that which was lost. That is very true, because we were all lost.
He came so that He could bring people to heaven and fill heaven. He had a purpose. But when He was on earth, He could not find the right material for the building of His house.
The work of our Lord Jesus on earth, to seek and to save the lost, was to prepare the material for the building of His house.
Simon was just like everyone else. But the light of Christ came into Simon’s life, making him a small stone.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we too receive that same life. We become material for the building of the house.
While our Lord Jesus was on earth, His work was finding the material—the right material. That is why He said, “I will build My church.”
After His resurrection, He told them to return to Jerusalem and wait for power. There were five hundred brethren, but only one hundred and twenty returned to Jerusalem.
They were gathered together, including the mother of our Lord Jesus and His brothers, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, there came a mighty breathing, like a wind. In the original, it is an intense breathing, as someone breathing out—God breathing upon the congregation.
There were tongues as of fire resting upon them. Brothers and sisters, this is Pentecost.
Today, when we think of Pentecost, we are often attracted by the sound and the sight—the rushing wind and the vision.
The true meaning of Pentecost is found in 1 Corinthians 12:13. There they were joined together into one body.
Pentecost is the beginning of the church, the body of Christ. This is how the church began to be built.
First Corinthians 12:12 says:
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
The church is the body of Christ. In the church, there are many members, but one body.
The Holy Spirit makes no mistake. The church is Christ. Why do we call it “the Christ”? Because Christ is all and in all the members.
The church is the Christ in Peter, plus the Christ in James, plus the Christ in John. How do you think about that? Amen.
It is not only Christ in each individual. Outside of Christ, there is still Peter, and there is still James. As long as the flesh remains, the church will be divided.
The reason why the church is called the Christ is that, in the church, there is no Peter and there is no James. It is Christ, all and in all. Praise the Lord.
That is why the Lord requires us to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him.
What is the church? The church is a fellowship.
First Corinthians 1 says that God is faithful, through whom we were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Because He called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, fellowship means sharing. In modern language, perhaps we could call it a fraternity.
Even before the foundation of the world, there was the fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It is the divine fellowship—how harmonious and how wonderful.
Everything was shared in the most exclusive fellowship in the whole universe: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
But thank God, because of His love and because of the finished work of Christ, He has opened His fellowship toward us. He has included us in it.
When you join a fraternity, there are qualifications. You have to fulfill those qualifications. When you join a club, you have to pay so much money in order to enjoy all the privileges.
But the only way to join this fellowship is to be born from above. If you are born from above, no matter what your earthly position is, you are included. Thank God.
This is the high and glorious fellowship of the whole universe.
First John tells us of this fellowship. The apostle John said that he and the other apostles had fellowship with the Father and with His Son.
What we have seen and heard, we report to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son.
On the day of Pentecost, they were baptized into one body. Three thousand were added and became members of this fellowship.
Acts 2:42 says:
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
All now participated in this fellowship—not only the first one hundred and twenty, but also the three thousand.
The words teaching and fellowship are singular. The apostles did not have their own individual teaching or their own particular doctrine. They shared what they had received from the one Lord.
Brothers and sisters, we gather together on the Lord’s Day to break bread, showing that we are one in Christ. We pray together for the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That is how the early Christians did, and that is how we should do.
Do not be troubled if you are not qualified to enter some society, fraternity, or club on this earth. You are already in the high and glorious fellowship of God.
That is how we share with one another in Christ Jesus.
The church is not limited merely to being together in one place. Even when we are not gathered in one location, we remain the church.
The simplest explanation of what the church is appears in Matthew 18:20:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forsake our assembling together, but to encourage one another in the Lord.
There are some people who think themselves very spiritual. They say, “All I need is the Lord. I do not need brothers.”
But they do not want to fellowship with any brother. Brothers and sisters, that is not God’s thought.
I cannot do without my Lord. But I cannot do without you, and you cannot do without me. We have a vertical relationship with God, and we have a horizontal relationship with our brothers.
If we cannot do without God, neither can we do without one another. This is a wonderful reality.
The church is a holy priesthood. You find this in 1 Peter 2:5, 9.
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
What is the church? The church is a holy priesthood. In other words, we are priests.
Living for God and serving God is not limited to only a few people. There is a universal priesthood of all believers. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus serves in various ways.
Even during the Reformation, Martin Luther saw the universal priesthood of believers. But he could not fully practice it, because many of those who were expected to serve were not saved.
But thank God for His grace. We who are gathered together have been saved by grace. Brothers, remember: we are saved to serve.
We no longer belong to ourselves. Every believer lives for the Lord and serves Him.
May the Lord put us together and make us a proper expression of His church today.
Amen.