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talking about his bestowed title, calling at-tention to his unique resurrection.
3Jesus was indeed “the First” human to be resurrected to immortal spirit life. (Colos-sians 1:18) Moreover, he is “the Last” to be so resurrected by Jehovah personally. Thus, he becomes “the living one . . . living for-ever and for-ever.” He enjoys immortality. In this, he is like his immortal Father, who is called “the living God.” (Revelation 7:2;
Psalm 42:2) For all others of humanity, Jesus himself is “the resurrection and the life.”
(John 11:25) In harmony with this, he says to John: “I became dead, but, look! I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” (Revelation 1:18b) Jehovah has giv-en him the authority to resurrect the dead.
That is why Jesus can say that he has the keys to unlock the gates for those bound by death and Hades (gravedom).—Compare Matthew 16:18.
4Jesus here repeats his command to re-cord the vision, telling John: “Write down the things you saw, and the things that are and the things that will take place after these.” (Revelation 1:19) What exciting things will John yet make known for our instruction?
The Stars and the Lampstands
5John has seen Jesus in the midst of sev-3. (a) In what way was Jesus “the First and the Last”? (b) What is meant by Jesus’ having “the keys of death and of Hades”?
4. What command does Jesus repeat, and for whose benefit?
5. How does Jesus explain “the seven stars” and “the seven lampstands”?
en golden lampstands with seven stars in his right hand. (Revelation 1:12, 13, 16) Now Jesus explains this: “As for the sacred secret of the seven stars that you saw upon my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars mean the angels of the seven congregations, and the seven lampstands mean seven congregations.”—Rev-elation 1:20.
6The “stars” are “the angels of the sev-en congregations.” In Revelation, stars some-times symbolize literal angels, but Jesus would hardly use a human penman to write to invisible spirit creatures. So the “stars”
must be the human overseers, or elders, in the congregations, viewed as Jesus’ messen-gers.1 The messages are addressed to the stars, for these are responsible for the over-sight of Jehovah’s flock.—Acts 20:28.
7Since Jesus speaks to only one “angel” in each congregation, does this mean that each congregation has only one elder? No. As ear-ly as Paul’s day, the Ephesian congregation had a number of elders, not just one.
(Reve-1 The Greek word agge·los (pronounced “ange·los”) means “messenger” as well as “angel.” At Malachi 2:7, a Levite priest is referred to as a “messenger” (Hebrew, mal·’akh).—See New World Translation Reference Bible, foot-note.
6. What is represented by the seven stars, and why were the messages specifically addressed to these?
7. (a) What shows that Jesus’ speaking to only one angel in each congregation does not mean that each congregation has only one elder? (b) Who, in effect, are represented by the seven stars in Jesus’ right hand?
PERGAMUM
SMYRNA THYATIRA
PHILADELPHIA
SARDIS
lation 2:1; Acts 20:17) So in John’s day, when messages were sent to the seven stars to be read to the congregations (including the one in Ephesus), the stars must have stood for all those who served in the bodies of elders within Jehovah’s anointed congregation. In like manner, overseers today read to their congregations letters received from the Gov-erning Body, made up of anointed overseers who serve under Jesus’ headship. The local bodies of elders have to make sure that Je-sus’ counsel is followed by their congre-gations. Of course, the counsel is for the benefit of all those associated in the congre-gations, not just the elders.—See Revelation 2:11a.
8Since Jesus is the Head of the congrega-tion, the elders are properly said to be in his right hand, that is, under his control and direction. (Colossians 1:18) He is the Chief Shepherd, and they are undershep-herds.—1 Peter 5:2-4.
9The seven lampstands are the seven con-gregations to whom John directs the book of Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
8. What is indicated by the elders’ being in the right hand of Jesus?
9. (a) What do the seven lampstands represent, and why are lampstands a fitting symbol for these?
(b) Of what would the vision likely remind the apostle John?
Why are congregations symbolized by lamp-stands? Because Christians, whether individ-ually or collectively as congregations, have to ‘let their light shine before men’ in this bedarkened world. (Matthew 5:14-16) Addi-tionally, lampstands were among the fur-nishings of Solomon’s temple. Calling the congregations lampstands would likely re-mind John that, in an illustrative sense, each local congregation of anointed ones is
“God’s temple,” a dwelling place for God’s spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:16) Moreover, in the antitype of the Jewish temple arrangement, members of the congregation of anointed ones serve as “a royal priesthood” in Jeho-vah’s great spiritual temple arrangement, of which Jesus is the High Priest and where Jehovah dwells personally in the heavenly Most Holy.—1 Peter 2:4, 5, 9; Hebrews 3:1;
6:20; 9:9-14, 24.
The Great Apostasy
10When John wrote Revelation, Christiani-ty was upwards of 60 years old. At the out-set, it had survived 40 years of constant opposition from Judaism. Then the Jewish system received a mortal blow in 70 C.E.
when the unrepentant Jews lost their na-tional identity and what was to them vir-tually an idol—the temple in Jerusalem.
10. What happened to the Jewish system and its un-repentant supporters in 70 C.E.?
EPHESUS
LAODICEA
11Nevertheless, the apostle Paul had fore-told that there would be an apostasy among the anointed Christians, and Jesus’ messages show that in John’s old age this apostasy was already developing. John was the last of those who acted as a restraint on this all-out attempt by Satan to corrupt the seed of the woman. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; 2 Peter 2:
1-3; 2 John 7-11) So it was the appropriate time for Jehovah’s Chief Shepherd to write to the elders in the congregations, warning of developing trends and encouraging right-hearted ones to stand firm for righteousness.
12How the congregations in 96 C.E. re-sponded to Jesus’ messages we do not know.
But we do know that the apostasy de-veloped rapidly after John’s death. “Chris-tians” ceased to use Jehovah’s name and substituted “Lord” or “God” for it in Bi-ble manuscripts. By the fourth century, the false doctrine of the Trinity had infiltrated the congregations. During this same peri-od, the idea of an immortal soul was being adopted. Finally, Roman Emperor Constan-tine gave state approval to the “Christian”
religion, and this led to the development of Christendom, where Church and State joined forces in ruling for a thousand years.
It was easy to become a new-style “Chris-tian.” Whole tribes adjusted their earlier pagan beliefs to versions of this religion.
Many of the leaders in Christendom became oppressive political tyrants, enforcing their apostate views by the sword.
13Jesus’ words to the seven congregations were completely ignored by the apostatizing Christians. Jesus had warned the Ephesians to regain the love they had at first. (Revela-tion 2:4) Nevertheless, members of Christen-dom, no longer being united in love for 11. Why was it so timely for the Chief Shepherd to warn the congregations of developing trends?
12. (a) How did the apostasy develop in the cen-turies after John’s day? (b) How did Christendom come into existence?
13. Despite Jesus’ warning against sectarianism, what course did the apostatizing Christians take?
Jehovah, fought vicious wars and persecut-ed one another horribly. (1 John 4:20) Jesus had warned the congregation in Pergamum against sectarianism. Yet, sects appeared even in the second century, and today Christendom has thousands of squabbling sects and religions.—Revelation 2:15.
14Jesus had warned the Sardis congrega-tion against being spiritually dead. (Reve-lation 3:1) Like those in Sardis, professed Christians quickly forgot about Christian works and soon delegated the highly impor-tant work of preaching to a small, paid cler-gy class. Jesus had warned the congregation in Thyatira against idolatry and fornication.
(Revelation 2:20) Yet, Christendom openly sanctioned the use of images, as well as the promoting of the more subtle idolatry of na-tionalism and materialism. And immorality, while sometimes preached against, has al-ways been widely tolerated.
15Hence, Jesus’ words to the seven con-gregations expose the total failure of all of Christendom’s religions to be Jehovah’s spe-cial people. Indeed, the clergy of Christen-dom have been the most prominent mem-bers of Satan’s seed. Speaking of these as
‘the lawless one,’ the apostle Paul foretold that their “presence is according to the op-eration of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents and with every unrighteous deception.”—2 Thessalonians 2:
9, 10.
16While claiming to be shepherds of the flock of God, Christendom’s leaders, reli-gious and secular, showed special hatred for 14. (a) Though Jesus warned against being spiritu-ally dead, what course did professed Christians take?
(b) In what ways did the professed Christians fail to heed Jesus’ warning against idolatry and immoral-ity?
15. Jesus’ words to the seven congregations expose what regarding Christendom’s religions, and what have Christendom’s clergy proved to be?
16. (a) Against whom did Christendom’s leaders show special hatred? (b) What took place in Chris-tendom during the Middle Ages? (c) Did the Prot-estant rebellion, or Reformation, change Christen-dom’s apostate ways?
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anyone who tried to encourage Bible read-ing or anyone who exposed their unscrip-tural practices. John Hus and Bible translator William Tyndale were persecuted and mar-tyred. During the bedarkened Middle Ages, apostate rule reached a peak in the diabol-ic Catholdiabol-ic Inquisition. Any who disputed the teachings or authority of the church were unmercifully suppressed, and countless thousands of so-called heretics were tortured to death or burned at the stake. Thus Sa-tan endeavored to ensure that any true seed of God’s womanlike organization would be quickly crushed. When the Protestant rebel-lion, or Reformation, occurred (from 1517 onward), many Protestant churches mani-fested a similar intolerant spirit. They too became bloodguilty by martyring those who endeavored to be loyal to God and Christ.
Truly, “the blood of holy ones” was freely poured out!—Revelation 16:6; compare Mat-thew 23:33-36.
The Seed Endures
17In his parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus foretold the time of darkness that would exist while Christendom reigned 17. (a) What did Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds foretell? (b) What took place in 1918, result-ing in what rejection and what appointment?
supreme. Nevertheless, through all the cen-turies of apostasy, there would exist indi-vidual wheatlike Christians, genuine anoint-ed ones. (Matthew 13:24-29, 36-43) Thus, when the Lord’s day dawned in Octo-ber 1914, there were still true Christians on earth. (Revelation 1:10) It appears that Jeho-vah came to his spiritual temple for judg-ment about three and a half years later, in 1918, accompanied by Jesus as his “messen-ger of the covenant.” (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 13:47-50) It was time for the Master to reject finally the false Christians and to appoint
‘the faithful and discreet slave over all his belongings.’—Matthew 7:22, 23; 24:45-47.
18It was also time for this slave to give special attention to the things written in Je-sus’ messages to the seven congregations, as we see from what is stated therein. For 18. What “hour” came in 1914, and what was it time for the slave to do?
Christendom’s religion incurred a heavy bloodguilt by persecuting and killing those who translated, read, or even owned the Bible
UNLOCKING A SACRED SECRET 31
example, Jesus refers to his coming to judge the congregations, which judgment began in 1918. (Revelation 2:5, 16, 22, 23; 3:3) He speaks of protecting the Philadelphia con-gregation from “the hour of test, which is to come upon the whole inhabited earth.”
(Revelation 3:10, 11) This “hour of test” ar-rives only with the dawning of the Lord’s day in 1914, after which Christians were tested as to their loyalty to the established Kingdom of God.—Compare Matthew 24:3, 9-13.
19For this reason, Jesus’ words to the con-gregations have had their major application 19. (a) What do the seven congregations picture to-day? (b) Who have associated in large numbers with the anointed Christians, and why do Jesus’ counsel and the conditions he describes apply to them also?
(c) How should we view Jesus’ messages to the sev-en first-csev-entury congregations?
since 1914. In this setting, the seven con-gregations picture all the concon-gregations of anointed Christians during the Lord’s day.
Moreover, during the past 70 years and more, the anointed Christians pictured by John have been joined by large numbers of believers whose hope is to live forever in Paradise on earth. The counsel of the glorified Jesus Christ and the conditions he found in the seven congregations as a result of his inspection apply with equal force to these, since there is only one standard of righteousness and faithfulness for all of Je-hovah’s servants. (Exodus 12:49; Colossians 3:11) Thus, Jesus’ messages to the seven first-century congregations in Asia Minor are not mere historical curiosities. They mean life or death to each one of us. Let us, then, listen carefully to Jesus’ words.
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