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To the Church in Laodicea.....
By M. John Allen
Many people believe we are in
the Laodicean era of the church today, and there
are many signs and symptoms that this is so. But how many of us believe that
WE could be Laodiceans?
I daresay that many of us don’t
think that we, personally, could be Laodiceans, but
I would suggest, in the gravity of the situation, and in light of the
punishment of God’s church today through the great scattering, we had better
examine ourselves to see if we fall into this category, and, if necessary,
make a course correction before it is too late.
let’s notice real quickly the main text for the Laodiceans.
3:14
"And to the angel of the
church of the Laodiceans
write,'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True
Witness, the Beginning of the
creation of God:
3:15
I know your works, that you are
neither cold nor hot. I could
wish you were cold or hot.
3:16
So then, because you are
lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
F27 I will vomit you out of My
mouth.
3:17
Because you say, 'I am rich,
have become wealthy, and have
need of nothing'--and do not
know that you are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and
naked--
3:18
I counsel you to buy from Me
gold refined in the fire, that you
may be rich; and white garments,
that you may be clothed,
that the shame of your nakedness
may not be revealed; and
anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
3:19
As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Therefore be
zealous and repent.
3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If anyone hears My
voice and opens the door, I will
come in to him and dine with
him, and he with Me.
3:21
To him who overcomes I will
grant to sit with Me on My
throne, as I also overcame and
sat down with My Father on
His throne.
3:22
He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the
churches." ' "
Notice what is said about this
city in a famous Bible dictionary:
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Laodicea [H] [N] [S]
The city of this name mentioned
in Scripture lay on the confines of
Phrygia and Lydia, about 40 miles east of Ephesus (Rev. 3:14), on
the banks of the Lycus. It was
originally called Diospolis and then
Rhoas, but afterwards Laodicea, from Laodice, the wife of
Antiochus II., king of Syria, who rebuilt it. It was one of the most
important and flourishing cities of Asia Minor.
At a very early period
it became one of the chief seats
of Christianity (Col. 2:1; 4:15; Rev.
1:11, etc.). It is now a deserted place, called by the Turks
Eski-hissar or "old castle."
Laodicea was a center of ancient commerce. It was a major city of
its time. It also became a major center of Christianity,
but today it is deserted. I think this has a lesson for us today.
Let us read now some excerpts on
Laodicea from t he Jamieson, Fausset
and Brown commentary:
14. Laodiceans--The
city was in the southwest of Phrygia, on the river Lycus,
not far from Colosse, and lying
between it and Philadelphia. It was destroyed by
an earthquake, A.D. 62, and
rebuilt by its wealthy citizens without the help of
the state [TACITUS, Annals, 14.27]. This wealth (arising
from the excellence of
its wools) led to a
self-satisfied, lukewarm state in spiritual things, as Revelation
3:17 describes. See on Colossians 4:16, on the Epistle which
is thought to have
been written to the Laodicean Church by Paul. The Church in latter times
was
apparently flourishing; for one
of the councils at which the canon of Scripture
was determined was held in Laodicea in A.D. 361. Hardly a Christian
is now to
be found on or near its site.
15. neither cold--The antithesis
to "hot," literally, "boiling" ("fervent," Acts
18:25, Romans 12:11;
compare Solomon 8:6, Luke 24:32), requires that "cold"
should here mean more than
negatively cold; it is rather, positively icy cold:
having never yet been warmed. The Laodiceans
were in spiritual things cold
comparatively, but not cold as
the world outside, and as those who had never
belonged to the Church. The lukewarm state, if it be the
transitional stage to a
warmer, is a desirable state
(for a little religion, if real, is better than none); but
most fatal when, as here, an
abiding condition, for it is mistaken for a safe state
(Revelation 3:17). This accounts
for Christ's desiring that they were cold rather
than lukewarm. For then there would not be the same
"danger of mixed motive
and disregarded principle" [ALFORD]. Also, there is
more hope of the "cold,"
that is, those who are of the
world, and not yet warmed by the Gospel call; for,
when called, they may become hot
and fervent Christians: such did the
once-cold publicans, Zaccheus and
Matthew, become. But the lukewarm has
been brought within reach of the
holy fire, without being heated by it into fervor:
having religion enough to lull
the conscience in false security, but not religion
enough to save the soul: as Demas, 2 Timothy 4:10. Such were the halters
between two opinions in Israel (1 Kings 18:21;
compare 2 Kings 17:41,
Matthew
6:24).
16. neither
cold nor hot--So one oldest manuscript, B, and Vulgate read. But
two oldest manuscripts, Syriac,
and Coptic transpose thus, "hot nor cold." It is
remarkable that the Greek
adjectives are in the masculine, agreeing with the
angel, not feminine, agreeing with the Church. The Lord
addresses the angel as
the embodiment and representative of the Church. The chief
minister is
answerable for his flock if he have not faithfully warned the
members of it.
I will--Greek, "I am about
to," "I am ready to": I have it in my mind: implying
graciously the possibility of
the threat not being executed, if only they repent at
once. His dealings towards them will depend on theirs towards
Him.
spue thee out of my month--reject with righteous loathing, as
Canaan spued
out its inhabitants for their abominations. Physicians used
lukewarm water to
cause vomiting. Cold and hot drinks were common at feasts, but
never
lukewarm. There were hot and cold springs near Laodicea.
17. Self-sufficiency is the
fatal danger of a lukewarm state (see on Revelation
3:15).
thou sayest--virtually and
mentally, if not in so many words.
increased with goods--Greek,
"have become enriched," implying self-praise in
self-acquired riches. The Lord alludes to Hosea 12:8. The riches on
which they
prided themselves were spiritual
riches; though, doubtless, their spiritual
self-sufficiency ("I have
need of nothing") was much fostered by their worldly
wealth; as, on the other hand,
poverty of spirit is fostered by poverty in respect
to worldly riches.
knowest
not that thou--in particular above all others. The "THOU" in the
Greek
is emphatic.
art wretched--Greek, "art the wretched one."
miserable--So one oldest manuscripts reads. But two oldest
manuscripts
prefix "the." Translate, "the pitiable";
"the one especially to be pitied." How
different Christ's
estimate of men, from their own estimate of themselves, "I have
need of nothing!"
blind--whereas Laodicea boasted of a deeper than common insight into divine
things. They were not absolutely blind, else eye-salve would
have been of no
avail to them; but short-sighted.
18. Gentle and loving irony.
Take My advice, thou who fanciest thyself in need of
nothing. Not only art thou not in need of nothing, but art in
need of the
commonest necessaries of existence. He graciously stoops to their
modes of
thought and speech: Thou art a
people ready to listen to any counsel as to how
to buy to advantage; then,
listen to My counsel (for I am "Counsellor,"
Isaiah
9:6), buy of ME" (in whom,
according to Paul's Epistle written to the neighboring
Colosse and intended for the Laodicean Church also, Colossians 2:1,3, 4:16,
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge).
"Buy" does not imply
that we can, by any work or merit
of ours, purchase God's free gift; nay the very
purchase money consists in the
renunciation of all self-righteousness, such as
Laodicea had (Revelation 3:17).
"Buy" at the cost of thine own
self-sufficiency
(so Paul, Philippians 3:7,8);
and the giving up of all things, however dear to us,
that would prevent our receiving
Christ's salvation as a free gift, for example, self
and worldly desires. Compare Isaiah 55:1, "Buy . . .
without money and price."
of me--the source of "unsearchable
riches" (Ephesians 3:8). Laodicea was a
city of extensive money transactions [CICERO].
gold tried in, &
c.--literally, "fired (and fresh) from the fire," that is, just
fresh
from the furnace which has proved its purity, and retaining
its bright gloss.
Sterling spiritual wealth, as
contrasted with its counterfeit, in which Laodicea
boasted itself. Having bought this gold she will be no longer
poor (Revelation
3:17).
mayest be
rich--Greek, "mayest be enriched."
white raiment--"garments." Laodicea's wools were famous. Christ
offers
infinitely whiter raiment. As "gold tried in the fire"
expresses faith tested by fiery
trials: so "white
raiment," Christ's righteousness imputed to the believer in
justification and imparted in sanctification.
appear--Greek, "be
manifested," namely, at the last day, when everyone
without the wedding. garment shall be
discovered. To strip one, is in the East
the image of putting to open shame. So also to clothe one
with fine apparel is
the image of doing him honor. Man can discover his shame,
God alone can
cover it, so that his nakedness
shall not be manifested at last (Colossians
3:10-14). Blessed is he whose sin is so covered. The
hypocrite's shame may be
manifested now; it must be so at last.
anoint . . . with eye-salve--The
oldest manuscripts read, "(buy of Me)
eye-salve (collyrium, a roll of
ointment), to anoint thine eyes." Christ
has for
Laodicea an ointment far more precious than all the costly
unguents of the
East. The eye is here the
conscience or inner light of the mind. According as it
is sound and "single"
(Greek, "haplous," "simple"),
or otherwise, the man sees
aright spiritually, or does not. The Holy Spirit's unction,
like the ancient
eye-salve's, first smarts with conviction of sin, then heals. He
opens our eyes
first to ourselves in our wretchedness, then to the Saviour in His preciousness.
TRENCH notices that the most
sunken churches of the seven, namely, Sardis
and Laodicea, are the ones in which alone are specified no opponents
from
without, nor heresies from within. The Church owes much to God's
overruling
Providence which has made so often internal and external foes, in
spite of
themselves, to promote His cause
by calling forth her energies in contending for
the faith once delivered to the saints. Peace is dearly
bought at the cost of
spiritual stagnation, where
there is not interest enough felt in religion to contend
about it at all.
19. (Job 5:17, Proverbs 3:11,12, Hebrews
12:5,6.) So in the case of Manasseh
(2 Chronicles 33:11-13).
As many--All. "He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
And shalt thou be
an exception? If excepted from suffering the scourge, thou
art excepted from the
number of the sons" [AUGUSTINE]. This is an encouragement
to Laodicea not
to despair, but to regard the rebuke as a token for good,
if she profit by it.
I love--Greek, "philo," the love of gratuitous affection,
independent of any
grounds for esteem in the object loved. But in the case of Philadelphia
(Revelation 3:9), "I have loved
thee" (Greek, "egapesa") with the
love of esteem,
founded on the judgment. Compare the note in my English Gnomon
of
BENGEL, John 21:15-17.
I rebuke--The "I" in
the Greek stands first in the sentence emphatically. I in My
dealings, so altogether unlike man's, in the case of all whom I
love, rebuke. The
Greek, "elencho,"
is the same verb. as in John 16:8, "(the Holy Ghost) will
convince (rebuke unto conviction) the world of sin."
chasten--"chastise." The Greek, "paideu," which in classical Greek means to
instruct, in the New Testament
means to instruct by chastisement (Hebrews
12:5,6). David was rebuked unto
conviction, when he cried, "I have sinned
against the Lord"; the
chastening followed when his child was taken from him
(2 Samuel 12:13,14). In the divine chastening, the sinner at one and the
same
time winces under the rod and learns righteousness.
be zealous--habitually. Present tense in the Greek, of a
lifelong course of zeal.
The opposite of
"lukewarm." The Greek by alliteration marks this: Laodicea had
not been "hot" (Greek,
"zestos"), she is therefore urged to
"be zealous" (Greek,
"zeleue"): both are derived from the same verb,
Greek, "zeo," "to boil."
repent--Greek aorist: of an act to be once for all done, and
done at once.
20. stand--waiting
in wonderful condescension and long-suffering.
knock--(Solomon 5:2). This is a further manifestation of His
loving desire for the
sinner's salvation. He who is Himself "the Door," and
who bids us "knock" that it
may be "opened unto" us, is first Himself to knock
at the door of our hearts. If
He did not knock first, we should never come to knock at His door. Compare
Solomon 5:4-6, which is plainly
alluded to here; the Spirit thus in Revelation
sealing the canonicity of that mystical book. The spiritual
state of the bride
there, between waking and
sleeping, slow to open the door to her divine lover,
answers to that of the lukewarm Laodicea here. "Love in regard to men emptied
(humbled) God; for He does not
remain in His place and call to Himself the
servant whom He loved, but He
comes down Himself to seek him, and He who
is all-rich arrives at the
lodging of the pauper, and with His own voice intimates
His yearning love, and seeks a
similar return, and withdraws not when
disowned, and is not impatient
at insult, and when persecuted still waits at the
doors" [NICOLAUS CABASILAS in TRENCH].
my voice--He appeals to the
sinner not only with His hand (His providences)
knocking, but with His voice
(His word read or heard; or rather, His Spirit
inwardly applying to man's
spirit the lessons to be drawn from His providence
and His word). If we refuse to answer to His knocking at our
door now, He will
refuse to hear our knocking at His door hereafter. In respect
to His second
coming also, He is even now at
the door, and we know not how soon He may
knock: therefore we should always be ready to open to Him
immediately.
if any man hear--for man is not
compelled by irresistible force: Christ
knocks,
but does not break open the
door, though the violent take heaven by the force of
prayer (Matthew 11:12): whosoever does hear, does so not of himself, but by
the drawings of God's grace (John 6:44): repentance is Christ's
gift (Acts 5:31).
He draws, not drags. The Sun of
righteousness, like the natural sun, the
moment that the door is opened,
pours in His light, which could not previously
find an entrance. Compare HILARY on Psalm 118:19.
I will come in to him--as I did
to Zaccheus.
sup with him, and he with me--Delightful reciprocity!
Compare "dwelleth in
me, and I in Him," John 6:56. Whereas, ordinarily, the admitted guest sups with
the admitter, here the divine
guest becomes Himself the host, for He is the
bread of life, and the Giver of the marriage feast. Here again
He alludes to the
imagery of Solomon 4:16, where
the Bride invites Him to eat pleasant fruits,
even as He had first prepared a feast for her, "His
fruit was sweet to my taste."
Compare the same interchange,
John 21:9-13, the feast being made up of the
viands that Jesus brought, and those which the disciples
brought. The
consummation of this blessed
intercommunion shall be at the Marriage Supper
of the Lamb, of which the Lord's Supper is the earnest and
foretaste.
21. sit with me in my
throne--(Revelation 2:26,27,
20:6, Matthew 19:28,
20:23, John 17:22,24, 2 Timothy 2:12). The same whom Christ
had just before
threatened to spue out of His mouth, is now offered a seat with Him on
His
throne! "The highest place is within reach of the lowest;
the faintest spark of
grace may be fanned into the mightiest flame of love"
[TRENCH].
even as I also--Two thrones are
here mentioned: (1) His Father's, upon which
He now sits, and has sat since
His ascension, after His victory over death, sin,
the world; upon this none can
sit save God, and the God-man Christ Jesus, for
it is the incommunicable
prerogative of God alone; (2) the throne which shall be
peculiarly His as the once
humbled and then glorified Son of man, to be set up
over the whole earth (heretofore
usurped by Satan) at His coming again; in this
the victorious saints shall share (1 Corinthians 6:2). The
transfigured elect
Church shall with Christ
judge and reign over the nations in the flesh, and Israel
the foremost of them;
ministering blessings to them as angels were the Lord's
mediators of blessing and
administrators of His government in setting up His
throne in Israel at Sinai.
This commentary does an
excellent job in this section, so I don’t think I have much to add at this
point. I htink you should ponder these things as
the Feast goes on, to make sure that you are not in a Laodicean
attitude or condition.
Ask yourself the following
questions, among others:
1. Do I have a zeal for God’s
Truth?
2. Do I study and pray
regularly?
3. Do I fast regularly?
4. Do I look down on others as
spiritually inferior?
5. Do I always have to have my
own way?
6. Am I teachable?
7. Do I listen to correction?
8. Am I tired of doing what is
right?
This and other questions should
help you discern your spiritual condition to see if you are in a Laodicean attitude or not.
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