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In this message we shall consider the remaining aspects of the degradation of the church.
Although the church in Ephesus had many virtues, it was degraded because it had left its first love. In Revelation 2:4 the Lord said, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” The Greek word for “first” here is the same as the word translated “best” in Luke 15:22. Our first love toward the Lord must be the best love for Him. The church in Ephesus had left this best love toward the Lord.
The church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23) is a matter of life; as the new man (Eph. 2:15), it is a matter of the person of Christ; and as the bride of Christ (John 3:29), it is a matter of love. The first epistle to the Ephesians tells us that for the church life we need to be strengthened in our inner man that Christ may make His home in our hearts, that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-19); and that it is for the church life that grace is with all them who love the Lord Jesus (Eph. 6:24). Now the second epistle to the Ephesians reveals that the degradation of the church begins with our leaving the first love toward the Lord. Nothing but love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord. The church in Ephesus had good works, labored for the Lord, endured suffering, and tried the false apostles, but she left her first love toward the Lord.
We in the local churches today must be warned of the possibility of losing our first love for the Lord. We may work and labor for the Lord and we may be pure doctrinally and correct scripturally, yet not have the first love for the Lord. Once we have fallen from our first love, our degradation has begun. We may remain the same in everything else — in work, in labor, and in other things-but we are degraded because we have left our first love.
In Revelation 2:6 the Lord refers to “the works of the Nicolaitans,” which He hates. The works of the Nicolaitans refer to a hierarchy among the saints in which some set themselves to rule over others. This brings into being the so-called clergy and laity. In the church of Ephesus there was not the doctrine, the teaching, of the Nicolaitans. This was to develop later. But there were the works and activities of the Nicolaitans, that is, there was some type of clergy and laity.
The word “Nicolaitans” is an equivalent of the Greek word nikolaitai, the root of which is nikolaos, composed of two Greek words — niko and laos. Niko means conquer or above others. Laos means common people, secular people, or laity. So nikolaos means conquering the common people, climbing above the laity. Nicolaitans, then, must refer to a group who esteem themselves higher than the common believers. This was undoubtedly the hierarchy formed and established by Catholicism and Protestantism. The Lord hates the works of these Nicolaitans, and we must hate what the Lord hates.
God in His economy intended that all His people be priests to serve Him directly. In Exodus 19:6 God ordained the children of Israel to become “a kingdom of priests.” This means that God wanted them all to be priests. However, because of the worship of the golden calf (Exo. 32:1-6), they lost the priesthood, and only the tribe of Levi, because of their faithfulness to God, was chosen to replace the whole nation of Israel as priests to God (Exo. 32:25-29; Deut. 33:8-10). Hence, there was a mediatorial class between God and the children of Israel. This became a strong system in Judaism. In the New Testament God has returned to His original intention according to His economy in that He has made all believers in Christ priests (Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). But at the end of the initial church, even in the first century, the Nicolaitans intervened as the mediatorial class to spoil God’s economy. According to church history, this became a system adopted by the Roman Catholic Church and was also retained by the Protestant churches. Today in the Roman Catholic Church there is the priestly system, in the state churches there is the clerical system, and in the independent churches there is the pastoral system. All these are a mediatorial class, spoiling the universal priesthood of all believers. Thus, there are two distinct classes — the clergy and the laity. But in the proper church life there should be neither clergy nor laity; all believers should be the priests of God. Because the mediatorial class destroys the universal priesthood in God’s economy, the Lord hates it.
During the first three centuries, the church suffered a great deal as the Roman government tried its best to damage her. Eventually, the enemy, Satan, realized that persecution did not work very well. Therefore, being the subtle one, he changed his strategy from persecuting the church to welcoming her. In the early part of the fourth century, Constantine the Great accepted Christianity and made it a state religion. From that time onward, Christianity became a type of Roman state church. This welcoming of the church by the Roman Empire ruined her, because it caused the church to become worldly. The church has been called out of the world and has been separated from the world to God. However, by being welcomed by the Roman Empire, the church went back to the world and, in the eyes of God, even married the world. God considers this type of worldly union spiritual fornication.
In Revelation 2:13 the Lord Jesus said of the church in Pergamos, “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.” Satan’s dwelling place is the world. Because the church has entered into union with the world and has become worldly herself, she now dwells where Satan dwells — in the world.
The church in Pergamos also dwells where Satan’s throne is. This again refers to the world. The world is not only Satan’s dwelling place but also the sphere wherein he rules. Now the church is not only one with the world but even one with Satan. Such a worldly church is saturated with the thoughts, concepts, theories, and practices of Satan.
In Revelation 2:14 the Lord says, “I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol sacrifices and to commit fornication.” This verse speaks of “the teaching of Balaam.” Balaam was a Gentile prophet who caused God’s people to stumble. For the sake of reward (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11), he brought fornication and idolatry to God’s people (Num. 25:1-3; 31:16). In the worldly church, some began to teach the same things. Idolatry always brings in fornication (Num. 25:1-3; Acts 15:29). When the worldly church disregarded the name, the person, of the Lord, she turned to idolatry, which issued in fornication. The teachings of Balaam always cause people to enter into union with worldly things. This is to eat idol sacrifices and to commit spiritual fornication.
In Revelation 2:15 the Lord says, “You also have those who hold in like manner the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” The worldly and degraded church holds not only the teaching of Balaam but also the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The teaching of Balaam distracts the believers from the person of Christ to idolatry and from the enjoyment of Christ to spiritual fornication, whereas the teaching of the Nicolaitans destroys the function of believers as members of the Body of Christ, thus annulling the Lord’s Body in expressing Him. The former teaching disregards the Head, and the latter destroys the Body.
In the church in Ephesus only the works of the Nicolaitans were found (2:6), whereas in the church in Pergamos their works progressed into a teaching. First, they practiced the hierarchy in the initial church; now they taught it in the degraded church. Today in both Catholicism and Protestantism this Nicolaitan hierarchy prevails in both practice and teaching. The Lord hates the Nicolaitan hierarchy because it kills the function of the members of the Body and builds up an organization in place of an organism. This hierarchy is evil and satanic, and the Lord hates it. If we would have the proper church life, we must develop the function of all the members, encouraging them to function according to life in a living way that the Body may be built up as an organism.
In Revelation 2:20 the Lord says, “I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My slaves astray to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices.” The woman here is the very woman prophesied by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 13:33, the woman who added leaven (signifying evil, heretical, and pagan things) into the fine flour (signifying Christ as the meal offering for the satisfaction of God and man). This woman is also the great prostitute of Revelation 17, who mixes abominations with the divine things. The pagan wife of Ahab, Jezebel, was a type of this apostate church. The apostate church is filled with all manner of fornication and idolatry, both spiritual and physical.
In Revelation 2:20 the Lord indicates that the apostate church is a self-appointed prophetess. A prophet is one who speaks for God with God’s authorization. The apostate church presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God. She demands that people listen to her rather than to God.
The church in Pergamos had the teachings of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans, and these are continued in the apostate church signified by the church in Thyatira. Furthermore, the apostate church herself teaches, causing her people to listen to her rather than to the holy Word of God. Her adherents are all drugged by her heretical, religious teaching, not caring for Christ as their life and life supply, as indicated by the tree of life and hidden manna promised by the Lord to the churches in Ephesus and Pergamos (Rev. 2:7, 17).
Revelation 2:24 indicates that the apostate church teaches “the deep things of Satan.” “Deep things” means depths as in Ephesians 3:18. It figuratively denotes mysterious things. The apostate church has many mysteries or deep doctrines. Against the suffering church there was the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2:9); with the worldly church there was the throne of Satan (2:13); and within the apostate church there are the deep things of Satan. The religion of the synagogue, the world under Satan’s throne, and the philosophy of the satanic mysteries are all used by Satan to damage and corrupt the church.
The church suffered persecution from the synagogue of Satan, and eventually she became worldly, dwelling in the place where Satan dwells and where his throne is. But in Thyatira there is something more serious than this. Now Satan has come into the church and has saturated the church with himself. In the apostate church are the deep things of Satan, the mysterious teachings of Satan. This is the satanic philosophy. The apostate church does teach the satanic mysteries. This indicates that the deep thought of Satan, Satan’s concept, has saturated the apostate church. Eventually, this church becomes the embodiment of Satan. The proper church is the Body of Christ, but the apostate church is the embodiment of Satan. Christ indwells the church, but Satan indwells the apostate church in a subtle way through the teaching of the deep things of Satan, the mysteries of Satan. The apostate church teaches mysteries, but not the mysteries revealed in the New Testament concerning God’s economy. Rather, the apostate church teaches the mysteries of Satan.
Another aspect of the degradation of the church is that of having a name of being living but actually being dead. In Revelation 3:1 the Lord says, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are living, and you are dead.” Here we see that the church had a name of being living, but the Lord says that she was dead. In her dead condition, she needs the seven living Spirits and the shining stars.
In 3:1 the Lord identifies Himself as the One who “has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.” The seven Spirits of God are for the church to be living intensely, and the seven stars are for her to be shining intensely. To the church in Ephesus, Christ is the One who holds the seven stars and walks in the midst of the seven lampstands. The initial church needed the care of Christ, and her leaders needed His keeping grace. To the church in Smyrna, He is the One who became dead and lived again. The suffering church needed the resurrection life of Christ. To the church in Pergamos, Christ is the One who has the sharp two-edged sword. The degraded, worldly church needed His judging and slaying word. To the church in Thyatira, He is the One who has eyes like flaming fire and feet like shining brass. The apostate church needed His searching and judging. Now to the church in Sardis, He is the One who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. Because this church is dead, she needs the sevenfold, intensified Spirit of God and the shining leaders.
The church in Laodicea prefigures the degraded recovered church. To this church the Lord Jesus said, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of My mouth” (3:15-16). Once the recovered church becomes degraded, it is lukewarm — neither cold nor hot. This should be a warning to us. Once we become lukewarm, we are not fitting for the Lord’s move and shall be vomited out of His mouth. When the recovered church becomes degraded, she is in danger, unless she repents to be hot in seeking the rich experiences of the Lord, of being vomited out of the Lord’s mouth. To be vomited out of the Lord’s mouth is to lose the enjoyment of all that the Lord is to His church.
All the aspects of the degradation of the church will consummate in “Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth” (Rev. 17:5). The proper church life will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem, and the degraded church will consummate in Babylon the Great, that is, into apostate Christendom, which has deviated from God’s New Testament economy. Whereas the genuine local churches are pure, golden lampstands, today’s Christendom, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant denominations, and the independent groups, is a great mixture altogether lacking in purity. This mixture constitutes Babylon the Great.
Revelation 17:4, speaking of Babylon the Great, says, “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” Purple signifies divinity with authority (John 19:2-3). This color is a blend of blue and red; it signifies the blending of heavenly things with earthly. This is the appearance of the apostate church.
The woman in verse 4 is “gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls,” the materials with which the New Jerusalem is built (Rev. 21:18-19, 21). But the woman, the apostate church, is not solidly built with these precious things as the New Jerusalem is; she is only gilded with these treasures as an ornament for outward display. This is her deception to attract people. It is the prostitute’s false appearance.
The prostitute holds in her hand “a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” Gold in figure signifies the divine nature, the nature of God. Hence, the golden cup here means that the apostate church does have something of God in appearance. But within, her golden cup is full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication, full of idolatry, pagan practices, and filthiness in a heretical, sinful, religious relationship.
Revelation 17:5 goes on to say, “And upon her forehead a name was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth.” Since the Mother of the Prostitutes is the apostate church, the prostitutes, her daughters, should be all the different sects and groups in Christianity who to some extent hold the teachings, practices, and traditions of the apostate Roman Catholic Church. The pure church life has no evil transmitted from the apostate church.
The apostate church is the mother of the abominations of the earth. These abominations are idols (Deut. 7:25-26), with which the apostate Roman Church is filled.
In Revelation 17:4 and 5 we see the real situation of apostate Christendom. The outward appearance is simply a display. Inwardly, apostate Christendom is filled with things that are abominable in the eyes of God. She is unclean to the uttermost, full of idolatry and fornication. This is the consummation of the degradation of the church.
