The furniture of Israel’s two inner
sanctuaries was all of gold;
the candlestick of the holy place
was of gold—thus in all past
ages foreshadowing the true
character of a church and of a saint.
Golden Churches! Golden men!
Golden witnesses for Christ and
His truth! How far the church of God in the past
centuries, since John wrote,
has fulfilled the description,
ecclesiastical history can tell.
The age of gold was not a long one;
and then followed the silver, the
brass, and the iron. How much of gold
is to be seen in the churches of our day?
It does cheer one to know that the
Lord still counted such imperfect
churches as Ephesus and Pergamos,
or such backslidden ones as
Sardis and Laodicea, as represented by gold.
The grace of our Lord is exceeding abundant.
He prefers to praise rather than to blame.
His love and patience are boundless;
His desire to discover the least ‘good thing’
in His people is sincere and earnest.
And this truth is of itself a gospel
for the declining churches of the last days.
While the sight of the golden
candlesticks rebukes,
it encourages amazingly.
It humbles, yet it cheers.
The love of Jesus cannot fail.
The efficacy of the cross,
as covering, with its atoning shelter,
all who have consented to accept
that shelter, cannot change;
the backsliders shall be saved,
but it will be ‘so as by fire.’
Lowest of all, it may be,
will the ‘orthodox’ Churches of the last
days be found, who had the name,
and the form, and the profession—but not the love,
or the holiness, or the power.
15. January 2008
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