True and False Brethren

Yesterday I wrote concerning prophets. God’s lesson underscored the truth that compromise with the world means unfaithfulness to God. This message is found in the Lord’s letter to the church at Philadelphia, which John wrote in Revelation 3:7-13. Today we will look closer at this section of Revelation.


One of the truths the Lord is sharing in Revelation is that He is the only One who has the ability to allow entrance into the Kingdom of God; Jesus holds the keys. No man can seize the Kingdom for himself. Also, in Luke 20:9-16, Jesus told a parable wherein tenants of the Master’s vineyard wanted the son’s inheritance, and so they killed the Master’s son. In explaining the purpose of this parable, Jesus said that the One whom the “builders rejected” was the very One God had chosen to be the “capstone” (vs 17). A capstone is the key stone in an arch or doorway, and is the “chief stone” upon which others rely for structure and stability.

Men cannot seize salvation because “Salvation belongs to our God, Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rev 7:10). And so we see that salvation and entrance to the Kingdom of God are both given by the Lord, and cannot be taken by men. Therefore Jesus tells John that He controls the doors to the Kingdom, having the “Key of David”; what He opens will remain opened and what He shuts will remain shut. It is necessary for Jesus to establish this truth because there were two bodies of believers in the conglomerate church at Philadelphia; One group truly served God, and the other claimed to be His people, “though they are not.”

From the beginning of the Church there have been false believers who have made faithful followers of God feel rejected, just as Jesus was rejected. The Lord’s solution to this was to “make those who are of the synagogue of satan (the false church) . . . come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.” Jesus not only established His own rightful place with the Father, but the faithful believer’s rightful place in the church. However, there was one thing that could undo what Jesus was establishing: compromise.

Though I wrote yesterday, warning about the corrupting power of compromise, I am including it again because of the importance of keeping our service to God pure. Jesus told the true Philadelphian believers that He knew their “deeds”, or works. He was setting an open door before them because they had not denied His name (vs 8). Both their words and actions portrayed faithfulness, therefore the Lord was opening up the Kingdom to them so that they could walk in its authority. Their reward was to become a permanent part of the temple; a pillar. Never again would they go out of the temple of God, or His presence. Yet, if they did not hold on to what they had, their faithfulness, men would take it all away.

There is a difference between men who abide in God’s presence and serve Him with authority on this earth and false brethren. The first set of men are given what they have by the Lord, and value it above the ways of men. The second set of men “take” for themselves what is not given to them by God. And herein lies the sign of false brethren; asserting themselves as having an authority and place in God’s Kingdom that they were not given by God, for they were not chosen for faithfulness, as they were seeking their own and not the Lord’s will.

Why would men who abide in God’s presence and serve in Kingdom authority let false brethren take it all away? For one thing, it is difficult to set oneself apart from our brethren. We have been seeking unity in the body of Christ for a long time, trying to put our differences behind us and find a common ground in which to worship the One true God we all believe in. If we join all brethren without discerning who is serving God and who is serving themselves, we will eventually compromise our relationship with God. Our works will be subject to the approval of men who have not stood in God’s presence, and we will be asked to become part of works that are based in deceit.

Jesus spoke of “false Christs and false prophets” who would “perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.” (Mt 24:24). Paul also writes about “counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders” (2 Thess 2:9). Jude writes that false brethren “boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.” (Jd :16). False brethren appear to be powerful and to have authority, therefore humble servants may be tempted to submit all they have to these men.

One thing false brethren will not have is authority from God. Another thing they won’t have is the “new” thing that God is doing. They will speak of newness, yet keep the same people around them that can be bought with their flattery. However, Jesus spoke about a “new Jerusalem”; a new city of God which comes down from heaven. While the false brethren are feathering their nest in the old Church, God is building a new one out of the faithful body of believers.

Many believers will not want to leave their church, even if staying means they cannot serve God. They sit in hopes that things will improve, following in a system of those who have compromised all God gave them for smooth relationships with men. Will the Lord fix the church? In Revelation 17 we read that He will not, for she cannot be brought to repentance. The unfaithful part of God’s church, the harlot who is called the Mother of all Prostitutes, will be destroyed (Rev 17:16). God is allowing the dysfunctional conditions to worsen so that men will finally see they need to follow Him and not the unfaithful ways of some men.

For this reason the Lord separates the sheep from the goats (Mt 25:31-46); compromise brings dysfunction, and in an appointed hour the Lord will bring an end to the harlot part of his church through judgment. Therefore He calls the faithful believers out of her (Rev 18:4). God will have one group of true followers. They are the new Jerusalem, His bride (Rev 21:2).

Do we want the new? If it costs us our ministry and our relationship with God, will we leave a church system that is unfaithful to God’s purposes? As I said before, this puts the prophets between a rock and a hard place. Today, let us look at the rock, the capstone Who’s name is Jesus. And let us look at the hard place, the foundation that is immovable, the Word of God. If we return to the purity of our affection for God, He will give us a place with Him that cannot be removed. And we will be amongst true brethren. Amen.