Do You Think the Church is Fallen?

Do You Think The Church is Fallen?

The writer of the Revelation is the apostle John. There are many evidences to support this conclusion, though we will not discuss them here. There is one thing, however, which we ought to recognize about the characteristic of John’s writing. In what respect are his New Testament writings different from those of Paul and Peter? We know that both Peter and Paul were chosen by the Lord to establish the Church. In his Gospel and in his Epistles, John seldom touches upon the truth of the Church; and yet, in the first and second main division of the book of Revelation we find that the Lord commanded him to write to seven local churches. For us to understand the condition and status of the Church as revealed in the first three chapters of Revelation, we need to examine carefully the difference as well as the relationship between his writings and the writings of Peter and Paul.

It is evident in the Scriptures that Peter is a minister to the Circumcision while Paul is a minister to the Uncircumcision. Peter and the eleven apostles live in Jerusalem and do the work of the Lord by gathering the lost sheep of Israel to form the Church. Paul is called by the Lord and then given revelation concerning the truth of the Church by calling the nations (Col. 1.24ff.) to Christ through the preaching of the gospel. He is the one to lay the foundation. The work of Peter is more restricted to the Jews; he leads us to commence our heavenly pilgrimage for the (lost) inheritance of Israel reserved for us in heaven. The work of Paul is far more extended to the Gentiles; he shows us our heavenly position and possession in Christ. These are the important truths of the New Testament time because God deals with people according to special dispensation.

The work of John, though, is quite different. He does not teach dispensational truth. In his Gospel, he makes no mention of the ascension of Christ; in his Epistles, he does not point out the heavenly position of the saints. He concentrates instead on the Lord Jesus as the Word becoming flesh, a coming from heaven to earth. He looks upon the Lord Jesus as the eternal life. And hence, in his Gospel, John announces the birth of that eternal life; and furthermore, in his Epistles, he explains the nature of this eternal life.

The year 70 A.D.—when Jerusalem was destroyed—is a transitional time for dispensational truth. The Jewish Church formed on the day of Pentecost came to an end (actually, it had already been ended, only this was publicly made manifest then). The truths of Christ and of Judaism are not totally separated. Christians ought now to go out of the camp of Judaism. The Church which Peter established among the Jews has failed; Christ is no longer ruling over it.

As this became true among the Jews, so this is also true among the Gentiles: the churches which the Lord used Paul to establish among the nations have also fallen away so that they are unable to inherit the lost inheritance of Israel: "They all seek their own," wrote Paul, "not the things of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 2.21); "All that are in Asia [including the church in Ephesus] turned away from me" (2 Tim. 1.15). Those who knew the Church truth best were unable to stand firm in faith! Indeed, apostasy has already begun and the mystery of lawlessness has also germinated.

The works of Peter and Paul suffer dispensational change, but the work of John transcends the dispensational framework. He shows forth the Lord Jesus as the eternal life, and eternal life, as we know, is unchanging. Although dispensations may change and human events may encounter change, the eternal life found in the Lord Jesus or in the believers never changes. Though the Church may be spewed out of the Lord’s mouth, the Lord himself remains the same. The work of John follows upon the works of Peter and Paul, and it supplies their lack. Time-wise, he joins together the first and the second comings of Christ, and his work covers the duration. He preaches on the person of Christ and the eternal life.

In spite of the fact that the outward dispensation has changed and been corrupted, the eternal life remains unchanged. This we see in the last two chapters of John’s Gospel. Chapter 20 represents what is to transpire from the resurrection of Christ to His acceptance by the Jewish remnant in the last day. Thomas, looking at the pierced Savior, serves as a type of this. And chapter 21 typifies the gathering in the millennial kingdom. At the end of chapter 21 we are shown the specific works assigned to John and Peter (Paul’s Church truth is all heavenly, so it is not mentioned here). The flock of Christ as of Israel is committed to Peter; but he will die before John, and hence his work is not permanent but has an ending. Later on, in fact, Peter’s work is terminated, the Church of the Circumcision is left without a shepherd, and not long afterwards Jerusalem is destroyed. Thus this work comes to a complete end.

But then we may recall that Peter asks the Lord Jesus about the work of John. It is rather amazing that our Lord does not mention John’s death but only calls Peter to follow Him (to die and to finish the work). He hints, though, that the work of John may continue on till His return. Though John himself will die, his work does not die. His writings will continue to have their impact until the second coming of the Lord.

The works of these three apostles are therefore most important for us to grasp. The work of John spans the two comings of Christ. Now we may see the Church truth. Peter tells us of the failure of the Jewish Church, and Paul, of the failure of the Gentile Church. John, being a minister neither to the Circumcision nor to the Uncircumcision, is not entrusted with dispensational truth; and hence he makes no mention of the change in the Jewish or the Gentile Church. What he records in Revelation is instead the actual conditions of the churches at that time. He does not trace the history of the Church to its current state; he merely reports the various conditions of the churches in failure and also the pertinent judgments of the Lord pronounced upon them. After the works of Peter and Paul have ended, John continues on with their works: he simply narrates the fallen condition of the churches at his time.

The churches John writes about, aside from Revelation 22.17, are quite different from those written about by Paul. The testimony of John is to view every local assembly by itself. Some lampstands have the danger of being removed. The churches he sees are by and large already fallen and are now judged by Christ. The Church has failed! The Gentiles who by faith are grafted into the olive tree do not abide in the mercy of God. Paul teaches the church in Ephesus much on Church truth, but now she has left her first love and her lampstand will soon be removed! Just as Israel was cut off by God in the past, so the Church will now also be cut off. Just as God was formerly patient with Israel, so He is now patient towards the Church today. Yet the Church, like Israel, is not able to testify for God in the world.

The Church has already been corrupted and defeated, no matter how long the dispensation is to be extended; at the time of the writing of Revelation God has at least begun to be dissatisfied with His Church. He is going to take a new departure. Hence the Holy Spirit expresses on the one hand God’s dissatisfaction with the Church and on the other hand Christ’s obtaining of the kingdom. Hereafter the kingdom will be the objective. The Lord uses the seven churches existing in those days to represent the Church in order to let people know that He is dissatisfied with her and that the end is coming. Should the Lord delay His return, then these seven local churches in their current condition will be sufficient to represent and to delineate the entire external history of the Church on earth. And in so doing, the Lord reveals that the end is come and that He can return at any time. This is the wisdom of the Holy Spirit! And as the Lord does indeed delay His coming again, the second and third chapters of Revelation can and do in fact serve to disclose the conditions of the entire Church from the time of John up to the very day before the return of the Lord.

We ought to recognize the fact that during the time of Peter and Paul, the Church had already fallen. Such knowledge will help us in understanding the teaching concerning the Church to be found in the first three chapters of Revelation. In view of the failure of the Church, we ought to see here that Christ is not acting in the capacity of an intercessory priest but rather in that of a judging priest. We are thus instructed that there is not a perfect Church, and hence we can be delivered from entertaining any false hope about the Church. We will then know what kind of attitude we ought to take towards the Church. For God alone is true, but every man is a liar (cf. Rom. 3.4a).