The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

inheritance and be associated with Him in judging the nations, preparing them for the
reign of righteousness over them.
"And I will give him the morning star." (Verse 28.) The "morning star" is one of the
symbolical names given to Christ: "I am . . . the bright and morning star." (Rev. 22:16.) The
morning star anticipates, precedes, the day. The sun ushers in the day. The promise of the
morning star may therefore suggest that the overcomers who fall asleep shall be gathered
to Christ before He manifests Himself in the last act of judgment on the nations, and before
He appears as the "Sun of Righteousness" with healing in His beams; for before this latter
stage of the Second Advent the overcomers will all be with Him; and with Him "shall the
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Thyatira presents to us a
condition, a state of things, that exists until the Lord has come and delivered all His
overcoming saints; not, however, until the rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon the
world, but until He comes and makes Himself known as the Morning Star, the Herald of
the Day, before the Day fully appears. At any rate the thought would properly be that
those who are given the Morning Star, Christ, will be given to possess and enjoy the
closest of union and fellowship with Him, with all that this signifies of ineffable glory and
bliss throughout countless ages.
It will be noticed that in this epistle, as also the three that follow, the Savior makes a
complete change in the position of the admonition: "He that hath an ear let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the Churches." In the three previous epistles the admonition is placed
before the promise to the overcomer; while in this and the three that follow, the
admonition comes after. This change is accounted for by some in what appears to be a
reasonable way:
"In the first three instances, it would seem to be the address of the spirit from within the
professing body, calling to the world [those who have ears to hear] without; but in the last
four it would seem that the spirit itself is without, and that the call is considered now as
having the same relation to the body of the professed Church as to the world. It is thus
intensely significant of prevailing apostasy which has so paganized the professing Church
as to make true Christians as exceptional in the Church as in the world. As the pillar of
cloud went up from before the camp of Israel, and took its place behind it, to sever the
Lord's people from the Egyptians, so this change intimates that the Church as a body has
become so blended with the world that a separation needs to be drawn between Christ's
true people and it, the same as its calling was meant to sever it from the world. Hence, in
all the epistles in which the Spirit's warning takes its place after the promise, the great
body of the professed Church, as such, is treated as apostate, and hopelessly corrupt,
whilst at the end, the fearful announcement is made that Christ is about to cast it
loathingly from Him.
"And in still another respect does Christ successively alter His attitude toward these
Churches, indicative of growing displeasure on His part and gradual ripening for
judgment on their part. He required of the Ephesians to repent of their decline of love,
simply referring to the fact that He 'will come.' He enjoined upon the Pergamites to repent