bride is clothed. He Who speaks to the church is called the faithful and true witness; He

who rides out of heaven in the corresponding section is the same--"faithful and true."

The promise to the overcomer, that of sitting with the Lord in His throne, is realized in

chapter 20: 4, where those who live and reign, and sit upon thrones are those who have

proved themselves faithful witnesses during the time of antichristian oppression. The

reference in Rev. 3:, "I stand at the door," is linked with the "Judge" by James 5: 9, and

so with Rev. 20:

This close comparison seems to establish beyond dispute the close interrelation of the

seven churches with the rest of the prophecy. Here is a field of search open to the

humblest possessor of a Bible. The interpretation that necessitates an intimate knowledge

of the history of Christendom for the past nineteen centuries is by force of circumstances

limited to the very few. The interpretation we have been led to adopt is absolutely

independent of any source of information outside the covers of the inspired Word.

When the apostle Paul was inspired to write his epistles to the churches, we find that

he wrote to seven. When the Spirit of God would give us a picture of the spiritual state of

the day of the Lord, He causes John to write to seven churches in Asia. In our last article

we attempted to show the close relation that existed between these seven churches and

the remainder of the prophecy of the Revelation.

It is not our intention to take each epistle in detail; we shall content ourselves with

drawing attention to one item before passing on to chapter 4:

THE NICOLAITANES.--The church at Ephesus is commended for hating the deeds

of the Nicolaitanes. The church at Pergamos is said to have those who hold the doctrine

of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. The church of Smyrna is not associated

with the Nicolaitanes by name, but it has to suffer at the hands of those who are called by

the Lord, "the synagogue of Satan," just as to the church at Thyatira it is said to as many

as have not "this doctrine," and have not known the "depths of Satan." The church at

Sardis has some "defiling" tendencies at work among them, and the synagogue of Satan

figures again in the church of Philadelphia.

The way in which the doctrine of Balaam is linked with the doctrine of the

Nicolaitanes suggests a connection between them. We know from O.T. history, as well

as the details given in Rev. 2: 14, what the "doctrine of Balaam" was. When we realize

that the Bal-aam means, "lord of the people," and Nikos-laos means "conqueror of the

people," we shall possibly perceive that the doctrine of Balaam is the type of the future

apostacy of which the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes is the fulfillment or antitype. At the

time of the end we see indicated by these epistles a movement set on foot to promote the

making of the covenant between Israel and false Christ; to accomplish this end the