Revelation Chapter Three Part Two
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TO THE CHURCH OF THE LAODICEANS.
Revelation 3:14-22, “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans
write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my
mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and
have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and
repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in
my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in
his throne? He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches.”
This church is the last of the seven, and hence represents Christendom
at the end of the church age. It is condemned because of one prominent
characteristic, “LUKEWARMNESS, neither cold nor hot,” which feature
surely points to the Christian Church in general since about 1850 to
the present time. The church of today as a whole rests on its oars
content with the benefits of the Reformation and the Evangelism of the
two previous church periods, and is thus truly “lukewarm.”
The name “Laodicea” means “power of the laity.” This symbolism can be
interpreted in two ways. (1) It indicates a church whose ministering
clergy so lack spiritual reality that they are as it were only
like “laymen,” instead of being priests unto God. (2) It also
represents a church in which the true priests are often laymen with no
professional clerical training. Both these features are clearly seen in
present day Christian ministry.
Messiah foretold that this church would consider itself “rich and
increased with goods.” Certainly the church of today has a rich
heritage of spiritual knowledge and experience. There is no excuse for
any not fulfilling 2 Peter 1:10 “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give
diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
things, ye shall never fall.”
We need to make “to make our calling and election sure.” Yet we observe
today sadly how few press into the Kingdom of God! The majority are
missing that high calling through sheer apathy. Then again as Messiah
foretold, the church has a false standard of wealth, relying upon her
Doctors of Divinity and clergy trained in philosophy arid modernism as
the evidence of wealth; whereas actually the great necessity is often
missing, namely a real Christian experience of salvation. This church
is terribly poor in the sight of YHWH. In verse 20, Messiah paints a
sad picture of himself shut out of His own church and knocking for
admittance. The advice to the Laodiceans is to “anoint thine eyes that
thou mayest see,” which injunction indicates a state of blindness. In
our own day, God has provided a key which unlocks and clarifies the
whole Bible. The key is that lost Israel is found in the AngloSaxon-
Celtic and Nordic races. Yet many of the leaders of the churches are
not the slightest bit interested in fulfilled prophecy, nor in the
mighty theme of the Second Advent, and often deny this great truth.
The result is that the church and nation have been both ignorant of
their inheritance; as Isaiah foretold, in Isaiah 42:19 “Who [is] blind,
but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger [that] I sent? who [is] blind
as [he that is] perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?” The time has
now come however, when God is causing both His church and kingdom
peoples to awaken and appropriate their blessings.
However there would be certain individuals whom Messiah would love,
because of their zealousness and in order to bring them to Himself in
reality, and He foretold that He would “rebuke and chasten them.” How
exactly this has been fulfilled, is verified today by thousands of
Christians out of all denominations who, only when overtaken by sorrow
and hardship, have found Christ or Messiah as personal saviour, and
experienced that anointing of the Spirit which unlocks the treasures of
the Bible.
He foretold He would “rebuke and chasten them.” How exactly this has
been fulfilled is verified today by thousands of Christians of
Christians out of all denominations who, only when overtaken by sorrow
and hardship, have found Messiah as Lord and God, and experienced that
anointing of the Spirit that unclocks the treasures of the Bible, 1
John 2:27, “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in
you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
In His last words to the church He states in Revelation 3:21 To him
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I
also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Messiah
named the reward to faithful overcomers of reigning with Him on David’s
throne in the millennium. Messiah “overcame” by doing the perfect will
of God as revealed to Him in the prophecies of the Old Testament
concerning Himself. Likewise, Messiah says that individuals who read
the Bible and obey what is revealed to them, will reign with Him.
As the “Laodicean” period will witness the Second Advent, Christ or
Messiah, who is the Holy One of Israel naturally pointed to the throne
of David upon which He will reign as King in the millennium. During the
last 2,000 years, Christ has been at the right hand of God on the
eternal throne in heaven, but at His return He will ascend the throne
which He calls “My throne” because God has promised it to Him in Luke
1:32-33, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his
kingdom there shall be no end.” His throne is at present in Westminster
London, being the same throne ruled over by Solomon according to 1
Chronicles 29:23, “Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king
instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.”
The overcomers out of the church of Laodicea along with the overcomers
of the other six church periods will reign with Him as His Executive
Body and hence will, as it were, sit with Him on David’s throne, ruling
over the Bride of Messiah which is Israel.
As to what will happen at that time to the rest of Laodicean
Christendom, so nauscating is lukewarmness to Messiah, that He says, “I
will spue thee out o f my mouth.” We see a similar scene in the parable
of the ten virgins recorded in Matthew 25:1-13, where the “ foolish
virgins” were shut out of the high calling of being in Messiah’s
executive body because they lacked. the necessary “oil” of the Spirit.
In conclusion, it will be readily admitted that we can today look back
over the pages of some 2,000 years of church history and see seven
distinct stages in which the peculiar features of the seven Asiatic
churches are reproduced, and in the exact order named by Christ. As the
visions recorded by John in Rev. 8 to 19 were detailed prophecies
concerning the Christian church in its spiritual and political
relations with the nations during the church age, it thus seems as if
Christ first of all gave a summary or synopsis of that same history in
His messages to the seven local churches. END OF CHAPTER THREE
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