Mysteries are of course something that only a few people know about. When it comes to the mysteries in the spiritual realm it is a fact that they remain a mystery even if you hear or read about them. If the mystery is to be revealed to you, God Himself has to reveal the meaning of it to your inner eye. The manner in which this transpires is by faith, even by blind faith. Usually people do not believe what they read in the Scriptures or what they hear from a man of God when the content goes beyond their limited comprehension and understanding. In a vision, John saw Jesus walking in the midst of seven golden lampstands, having seven stars in His right hand. In verse 20 Jesus Himself says to him, “‘The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.’” If we have received grace to believe the Word, we know that this is the case: It is very clear from the content of the seven letters to the seven different churches that Jesus describes the leaders of the churches as angels. This tells us much, considering it is written of angels that they are ministering spirits! In other words, the exact opposite of rulers! Everyone who is such an angel (or leader) in the church of the living God is in Jesus’ right hand! He does not go back and forth in it. He is there! This is a well-hidden mystery to most people. What does this mean? It means that Jesus uses him, that it is easy for him to hear Jesus’ voice and understand His will and accomplish it with power, that he is exceptionally sober, firm, and immovable. What a state to be in! Now we arrive at an amazing puzzle. All these seven letters from Jesus’ heart were written precisely to seven such stars that were in Jesus’ right hand. What do the contents of these seven letters tell us? They tell us that even there, in Jesus’ right hand, it can go badly with such a star!!!??? This is the most powerful evidence of the madness of the usual religious delusion that once you are saved, it will go well regardless, or that salvation is totally up to God alone and has nothing whatsoever to do with how we conduct ourselves or whether we are obedient or disobedient, warm or lukewarm, etc. In Daniel it is written about shining like stars forever and ever. Dan. 12:3. However, in Revelation, Chapter 1 we see that Jesus called these leaders stars even during their time of sojourn on earth. They were definitely not placed in Jesus’ right hand by chance or by pulling a lottery ticket. They were sure to have had a particularly good attitude of mind; they were faithful and firm. God had good reasons for installing them as leaders and consequently placing them in Jesus’ right hand. However, it can go badly in spite of all this! We can say that in one way they were unusually favored, but what does that help when the person is not faithful until the end and does not keep “My works,” as it is written? This is how badly things can turn out with such a star, that he is completely rejected and spewed out of Jesus’ mouth! It is of vital importance to be in dead earnest about this matter. This is not at all compatible with the usual religious world where people almost play at church and being a priest. Then there was another mystery. Real churches of God and Christ are lampstands of gold! They did not consist of alloyed metal, but of pure gold! Not just part of the lampstand was made of gold, but the entire lampstand, the entire church. This gold is first of all and importantly the wholehearted stand for Christ and the church that each member of the body has taken, to do God’s will in everything, to keep His commandments faithfully all the days of his life until the end, and even to forsake everything in order to carry out God’s will in spite of all opposition and reproach. Spiritually speaking, the church consists exclusively of such people. Because of this stand, they are all likened to gold. Humanly speaking, the church also consists of those who would like to take this radical stand but who have still not taken it because of their weakness; they have not managed to put it into practice. With wholehearted souls in the lampstand, God can carry out His transforming work, so that their personal lives also become like gold in this world: noble, holy, and pure! In this way they are true lampstand light-bearers! Both the stars and the lampstands are like gold. They are made of the same material: the same mind, the same being. They are one! In some of the seven churches everything was in order. They were not perfected, but there was nothing blameworthy, either with the stars or with the lampstands! In other churches, the stars were blameworthy. However, in one of these churches where the star was reprehensible, there were several in the lampstand who were blameless. Oh, how this must urge us on to deadly earnestness!!!Elias Aslaksen

When those who believe in Jesus are divided up into so many different denominations, this question arises quite naturally: “Who is right?” Or as Pilate once asked: “What is truth?” For the upright everything is simple and straightforward, but everything becomes difficult and complicated for the double-minded. Being double-minded, in this connection, is when one wants to have as much as possible of this world and then go to heaven in the end. However, most people understand that you have to give up something to be a Christian, and this is the point at which denominations arise. They argue about what you have to give up to become a Christian and what is sin. Being upright and simple means to have only one mind, the mind to follow Christ. That means everything to you. Then everything becomes uncomplicated. Jesus says, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:33. It is that simple. There is no need to argue about it. The upright will quickly agree. Those who have forsaken everything have come to the truth and have laid hold of what is right. Sickness and death—separation from God—entered in through sin. All the misery in the world is a result of sin, and Jesus came because of sin. Rom. 8:3. Jesus was manifested to take away our sins. 1 John 3:5-8; Heb. 9:26. “He who commits sin is of the devil . . . .” “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. The person who has experienced this has come to the truth and has laid hold of what is right. In Galatians 5:19-21 we read that the works of the flesh are evident. These verses do not speak about unconscious sin. Many of these sins are listed; for example: wrath, contentions, selfish ambitions, heresies, and such like. Most people do not take these things very seriously. They reckon that the grace in Christ Jesus shall cover it all. However, Paul says something totally different: “Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” In other words, those who commit such things have not found what is right; they have not come to the truth. But those who have come to victory over sin, not transgressing the law, have come to what is right. 1 John 3:4. They have found the truth. This is easy to understand for someone who is upright. Paul gives us the exhortation to follow him. 1 Cor. 4:16; Phil. 3:17. You have come to what is right when you have come to the truth, even before you have gained the victory. The evidence of having come to the truth is that you are being set free from sin. John 8:32-36. These are Jesus’ own words. If we have come to those who can say, “Follow me, as I follow Christ,” we have come to true servants of the Lord. Then we also know that we have come to what is right, even though we have not yet come to the right life, because we know that if we follow them things will be righted in our life. This is why Paul gives Timothy the following exhortation: “But as for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them . . . .” 2 Tim. 3:14. We have to be careful as to who instructs us, whether they have come to victory over sin or not. They are not giving us the truth if they—those who instruct us—have not come to a life of victory over sin. Heb. 13:9. Those who follow Jesus and have been set free from sin by the truth are fulfilling Jesus’ prayer in their lives: “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21. Those who have become one in this manner have come to the truth and have what is right. Therefore: let no one deceive you by means of doctrines that have not set them free from sin and have not led them to oneness. Believe in Jesus’ work and forsake everything in the world. Then you will experience that the Son is setting you free, and you will be free indeed. Then you will no longer ask, “What is truth? Who is right?” At that point you will have come to it yourself.Sigurd Bratlie

The Jews could not understand Jesus. They were judged by everything He said and did. His life was also hidden from the high priests and from the scribes who did not believe that He was God’s Son; therefore they wanted to kill Him. Jesus’ words to Pilate were a powerful testimony of the hidden life that Jesus had lived among them. Jesus says further, “If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:36. Jesus did not fight for Himself, neither did He seek other people’s help; He committed all things to the Father by doing the Father’s will. He was to become an atoning sacrifice for all of mankind and He offered them salvation through faith. The Jews sentenced Jesus to death, thinking, “Now we will have peace from this madness.” But Jesus lived on in His disciples, and His disciples testified of Jesus with great power, gaining many more disciples. Matt. 28:18-20. This also happens in our days, to God’s glory and our joy. Many disciples are being won and rejoice greatly in living the hidden life. However, there are also many in our days who do not find the way in Christ. They resist the truth, working to hinder God’s grace from teaching people to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and that they “should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” Tit. 2:11-12. These things are hidden from them, and no one whose kingdom is of this world can perceive or comprehend the great and precious promises that God has given in Christ Jesus: to partake of divine nature. 2 Pet. 1:3-4. The religious masses use all of God’s Word, but they do not understand it. They strive for what they can get in this world: honor, recognition, important positions, high esteem, and being first or second in command. They do not understand that the One who they claim is their Savior went a completely different way, saying to His contemporaries and to all: “Follow Me!” The Scriptures clearly state what we shall fight for: “Fight the good fight of faith . . . .” 1 Tim. 6:12. “The base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are . . . .” 1 Cor. 1:26-29. “Assuredly, I say to you: unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Read Matthew 18:1-4. According to the Scriptures, this is something to fight for and achieve in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Christ leading and urging us on in this fight. Our kingdom is not of this world; therefore we do not seek this world or the things of the world. God be praised that this is possible and that it happens in all those who believe and love Jesus Christ.Andreas Nilsen