Two Mysteries

Two Mysteries

Mysteries are of course something that only a few people know about. When it comes to the mysteries in the spiritual realm it is a fact that they remain a mystery even if you hear or read about them. If the mystery is to be revealed to you, God Himself has to reveal the meaning of it to your inner eye.

The manner in which this transpires is by faith, even by blind faith. Usually people do not believe what they read in the Scriptures or what they hear from a man of God when the content goes beyond their limited comprehension and understanding.

In a vision, John saw Jesus walking in the midst of seven golden lampstands, having seven stars in His right hand. In verse 20 Jesus Himself says to him, “‘The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.’”

If we have received grace to believe the Word, we know that this is the case: It is very clear from the content of the seven letters to the seven different churches that Jesus describes the leaders of the churches as angels.

This tells us much, considering it is written of angels that they are ministering spirits! In other words, the exact opposite of rulers! Everyone who is such an angel (or leader) in the church of the living God is in Jesus’ right hand! He does not go back and forth in it. He is there!

This is a well-hidden mystery to most people. What does this mean? It means that Jesus uses him, that it is easy for him to hear Jesus’ voice and understand His will and accomplish it with power, that he is exceptionally sober, firm, and immovable. What a state to be in!

Now we arrive at an amazing puzzle. All these seven letters from Jesus’ heart were written precisely to seven such stars that were in Jesus’ right hand. What do the contents of these seven letters tell us? They tell us that even there, in Jesus’ right hand, it can go badly with such a star!!!??? This is the most powerful evidence of the madness of the usual religious delusion that once you are saved, it will go well regardless, or that salvation is totally up to God alone and has nothing whatsoever to do with how we conduct ourselves or whether we are obedient or disobedient, warm or lukewarm, etc.

In Daniel it is written about shining like stars forever and ever. Dan. 12:3. However, in Revelation, Chapter 1 we see that Jesus called these leaders stars even during their time of sojourn on earth. They were definitely not placed in Jesus’ right hand by chance or by pulling a lottery ticket. They were sure to have had a particularly good attitude of mind; they were faithful and firm.

God had good reasons for installing them as leaders and consequently placing them in Jesus’ right hand. However, it can go badly in spite of all this!

We can say that in one way they were unusually favored, but what does that help when the person is not faithful until the end and does not keep “My works,” as it is written?

This is how badly things can turn out with such a star, that he is completely rejected and spewed out of Jesus’ mouth! It is of vital importance to be in dead earnest about this matter.

This is not at all compatible with the usual religious world where people almost play at church and being a priest.

Then there was another mystery. Real churches of God and Christ are lampstands of gold! They did not consist of alloyed metal, but of pure gold! Not just part of the lampstand was made of gold, but the entire lampstand, the entire church.

This gold is first of all and importantly the wholehearted stand for Christ and the church that each member of the body has taken, to do God’s will in everything, to keep His commandments faithfully all the days of his life until the end, and even to forsake everything in order to carry out God’s will in spite of all opposition and reproach.

Spiritually speaking, the church consists exclusively of such people. Because of this stand, they are all likened to gold.

Humanly speaking, the church also consists of those who would like to take this radical stand but who have still not taken it because of their weakness; they have not managed to put it into practice.

With wholehearted souls in the lampstand, God can carry out His transforming work, so that their personal lives also become like gold in this world: noble, holy, and pure!

In this way they are true lampstand light-bearers!

Both the stars and the lampstands are like gold. They are made of the same material: the same mind, the same being. They are one!

In some of the seven churches everything was in order. They were not perfected, but there was nothing blameworthy, either with the stars or with the lampstands!

In other churches, the stars were blameworthy. However, in one of these churches where the star was reprehensible, there were several in the lampstand who were blameless.

Oh, how this must urge us on to deadly earnestness!!!