Revelation 2:8-11 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things said the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;… The original means not simply, "Be thou," but rather, "Become thou"; as showing that it is a thing which we are not; but which continually we must, from time to time, make ourselves, by a holy effort. "Become thou faithful unto death." To be "faithful" is to be "full of faith," i.e., full of the realisation of things unseen. For the only way to secure "faithfulness" in anything is to carry with us a constant presence and a deep sense of the invisible. And you must be careful that you have caught the exact sense of "unto death." It relates not so much to the measure of the duration of the time as to the degree of the power of the endurance — "to the death-point." You will set about your endeavour to be "faithful," with the greater pleasantness and the more assurance of success if you carry with you the recollection that it was the characterising grace of our Master. St. Paul has drawn for us the striking comparison that Moses indeed was "faithful in all His house," but that the glory of the faithfulness of Christ exceeded the glory of the faithfulness of Moses as much as the builder of a house is better than the building. Of the many voices with which your motto will speak to you, let me now anticipate only a very few. And, first, your "faithfulness" to God. For remember that no other relation can ever be quite right while that is wrong. The upward will rule all the rest. First, as an act of justice, take honouring views of the Father. Never question that you are His child-though the unworthiest; and believe God's love, even when you have grieved Him to the very quick, and when He is chastening you the most sorely, Secondly, keep short accounts with God. Never leave more than a day's debt to God unsettled. Thirdly, be "faithful" to God in telling Him everything. Be "faithful" in your confidences, have no secrets, open to God the whole heart. The mortification will be severe, but ye cannot be "faithful" in prayer unless the prayer be "unto death," to the death of your dearest sin. These voices let your motto speak to you in your own room. Next, be faithful to yourself. First, to your pledges in baptism, in confirmation, in the Lord's Supper, in many a sorrow. Deal honourably with your own pledges, acknowledging the responsibility and facing the duty. And, secondly, to your conscience. A man will never go very far wrong who really listens to and follows his conscience. Thirdly, be "faithful" to your Church. Faults, no doubt, our Church has. There has been too much admixture with the world since that day when she came pure out of her Master's hand that she should not have contracted some earthly alloy. But she is the fairest Church upon earth and the freest from blemish, the purest thing out of heaven. And she is the Church of your fathers, of your baptism, of the holiest associations of your life, and of your best hours. Be "faithful" to her. Follow her teaching. Obey her laws. Love her services. Reverence her simplicity. Bow to her judgments. Strive for her increase. Pray for her unity. It would be far too large a field if I were to attempt to enter now, in any detail, upon the "faithfulness" of daily duties. Whatever you have to do, do not he so anxious to do it well, cleverly, effectually, as to do it "faithfully." The rest may not be in your power — this is. Every man can be "faithful." Your chief danger will be, not that you be unfaithful one day or two, but that you will become weary and grow slack. Therefore read the precept with emphasis, day after day, week after week, all the year round — "faithful unto death." (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; |
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