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;
The Church in Laodicea. 14 22
14. the Amen ] See the last note on Rev 1:7. Here the name is used, (i) because this is the last of the seven Epistles, that it may confirm the whole: (ii) as synonymous with the title “Faithful and True” that follows: for which see the latter group of references on Rev 3:7. Isa 65:16 is specially noticeable, where “the God of truth ” is in the Hebrew “the God of Amen”: in the other O. T. passages a different but cognate form is used.
the faithful and true witness ] See Rev 1:5.
the beginning of the creation of God ] Exactly equivalent to Col 1:15, as explained by the words that follow: in both places the words are such as might grammatically be used of the first of creatures, but the context there, and the whole tone of the Book here, proves that the writer does not regard Him as a creature at all. But St John is not here, as in the first verses of his Gospel, describing our Lord’s Nature theologically: it might be enough to say that here and in Pro 8:22 (where the words “the Lord possessed” or “created Me” lend themselves more easily than these to an Arian sense), the Word coming forth to create is conceived as part of His earthly mission, which culminates in the Incarnation, so that in a sense even creation is done by Him as a Creature.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write – See the notes on Rev 1:20.
These things saith the Amen – Referring, as is the case in every epistle, to some attribute of the speaker adapted to impress their minds, or to give special force to what he was about to say to that particular church. Laodicea was characterized by lukewarmness, and the reference to the fact that he who was about to address them was the Amen – that is, was characterized by the simple earnestness and sincerity denoted by that word – was eminently suited to make an impression on the minds of such a people. The word Amen means true, certain, faithful; and, as used here, it means that he to whom it is applied is eminently true and faithful. What he affirms is true; what he promises or threatens is certain. Himself characterized by sincerity and truth (notes on 2Co 1:20), he can look with approbation only on the same thing in others: and hence he looks with displeasure on the lukewarmness which, from its very nature, always approximates insincerity. This was an attribute, therefore, every way appropriate to be referred to in addressing a lukewarm church.
The faithful and true witness – This is presenting the idea implied in the word Amen in a more complete form, but substantially the same thing is referred to. He is a witness for God and his truth, and he can approve of nothing which the God of truth would not approve. See the notes on Rev 1:5.
The beginning of the creation of God – This expression is a very important one in regard to the rank and dignity of the Saviour, and, like all similar expressions respecting him, its meaning has been much controverted. Compare the notes on Col 1:15. The phrase used here is susceptible, properly, of only one of the following significations, namely, either:
(a)That he was the beginning of the creation in the sense that he caused the universe to begin to exist – that is, that he was the author of all things; or.
(b)That he was the first created being; or.
(c)That he holds the primacy over all, and is at the head of the universe.
It is not necessary to examine any other proposed interpretations, for the only other senses supposed to be conveyed by the words, that he is the beginning of the creation in the sense I that he rose from the dead as the first-fruits of them that sleep, or that he is the head of the spiritual creation of God, axe so foreign to the natural meaning of the words as to need no special refutation. As to the three significations suggested above, it may be observed, that the first one – that he is the author of the creation, and in that sense the beginning – though expressing a scriptural doctrine Joh 1:3; Eph 3:9; Col 1:16, is not in accordance with the proper meaning of the word used here – arche. The word properly refers to the commencement of a thing, not its authorship, and denotes properly primacy in time, and primacy in rank, but not primacy in the sense of causing anything to exist. The two ideas which run through the word as it is used in the New Testament are those just suggested. For the former – primacy in regard to time – that is properly the commencement of a thing, see the following passages where the word occurs: Mat 19:4, Mat 19:8; Mat 24:8, Mat 24:21; Mar 1:1; Mar 10:6; Mar 13:8, Mar 13:19; Luk 1:2; Joh 1:1-2; Joh 2:11; Joh 6:64; Joh 8:25, Joh 8:44; Joh 15:27; Joh 16:4; Act 11:15; 1Jo 1:1; 1Jo 2:7, 1Jo 2:13-14, 1Jo 2:24; 1Jo 3:8, 1Jo 3:11; 2Jo 1:5-6. For the latter signification, primacy of rank or authority, see the following places: Luk 12:11; Luk 20:20; Rom 8:38; 1Co 15:24; Eph 1:21; Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12; Col 1:16, Col 1:18; Col 2:10, Col 2:15; Tit 3:1. The word is not, therefore, found in the sense of authorship, as denoting that one is the beginning of anything in the sense that he caused it to have an existence. As to the second of the significations suggested, that it means that he was the first created being, it may be observed:
(a) that this is not a necessary signification of the phrase, since no one can show that this is the only proper meaning which could be given to the words, and therefore the phrase cannot be adduced to prove that he is himself a created being. If it were demonstrated from other sources that Christ was, in fact, a created being, and the first that God had made, it cannot be denied that this language would appropriately express that fact. But it cannot be made out from the mere use of the language here; and as the language is susceptible of other interpretations, it cannot be employed to prove that Christ is a created being.
(b) Such an interpretation would be at variance with all those passages which speak of him as uncreated and eternal; which ascribe divine attributes to him; which speak of him as himself the Creator of all things. Compare Joh 1:1-3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2, Heb 1:6,Heb 1:8, Heb 1:10-12. The third signification, therefore, remains, that he is the beginning of the creation of God, in the sense that he is the head or prince of the creation; that is, that he presides over it so far as the purposes of redemption are to be accomplished, and so far as is necessary for those purposes. This is:
(1)In accordance with the meaning of the word, Luk 12:11; Luk 20:20, et al. ut supra; and,
(2)In accordance with the uniform statements respecting the Redeemer, that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth Mat 28:18; that God has given him power over all flesh Joh 17:2; that all things are put under his feet the. Joh 2:8; 1Co 15:27); that he is exalted over all things, Eph 1:20-22. Having this rank, it was proper that he should speak with authority to the church at Laodicea.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 3:14-22
The Laodiceans.
Laodicea–the self-complacent Church
Laodicea is the type of a self-complacent Church. Underneath the condemnation of luke-warmness there is a yet more heart-searching lesson. Lukewarmness itself is the sure result of self-complacency; it is absolutely impossible for self-complacent men |o be other than lukewarm. If we grasp this truth we get below symptoms of a grave and conspicuous evil in Churches to its very source; we reach the heart and display its hidden weakness and woe. Perhaps, also, we shall find the way of deliverance; many a man is lukewarm, and he knows not why. It is his constant morrow and his wonder; he ought to be earnest, and he feels he is not. To show any who may be conscious of this strange indifference the real reason of their unimpassioned, powerless piety, to disclose the secret of the lukewarmness which is their never-forgotten perplexity and their self-reproach, may suggest to them how they are to be cured. There are two points in the description of the self-complacency of Laodicea, the simple statement of which bites like satire; it is the self-complacency, first, of the moneyed man, and, secondly, of the so-called self-made man. By a strange moral irony the self-complacent man fixes his attention on what he has of least value, and lets his higher possibilities go unthought of. The R.V., I am rich and have gotten riches, strikes harshly on the ear accustomed to the older reading, I am rich and increased with goods; but it has this merit–it shows us the self-complacent congratulating himself that he is the author of his own success. Laodicea was a town of some consequence in the Roman province of Asia. Its trade was considerable; it lay on the line of a great road. It is now a ruin, absolute and utter; the site of its stadium, its gymnasium, and its theatres alone discernible. North of the town are many sarcophagi, with their covers lying near them, partly embedded in the ground, and all having been long since rifled. The remains of an aqueduct are there, with stone barrel-pipes, incrusted with calcareous matter, and some completely closed up. It is an awful historic parable–broken buildings, rifled tombs, water-pipes choked with the earthy matter they conveyed. So may the soul be charged with the dregs of what we allow to filter through it; so will the soul be rifled which has allowed itself to become a tomb, the receptacle of dead forms of activity that might have been ennobled with the highest life. The curse of societies which measure the things of God by a worldly standard–and where this is not done, self-complacency is impossible–is the inevitable degradation and ruin which set in. There is no common measure between the surpassing purpose of the Saviour and the satisfaction men have in what they have attained, and in themselves for having attained it. All things are possible to me, says the believer in Christ; for his faith goes out to a life, an energy beyond him; it becomes surety for what his eye has not seen. All things are possible to me, says the worldly Christian; for he takes care never to admit into his purpose anything more than he has already achieved. Where the purpose is thus debased the thought is narrow, and mind, and heart, and soul are contracted to the limit of what they hold. So, when the appeal of the gospel is made, there is no response; there is nothing which seems worth a transcendent effort. The man is lukewarm, there is nothing to fire him in his purpose, no heart in him to be fired. He is poor for all his wealth. Thus the central thought of the message to Laodicea, when once we have caught it, dominates all our perception; it recurs to us again and again; its inevitableness strikes us; we never can forget that the self-complacent man or Church is and must be lukewarm. In Hogarths picture of Bedlam, the most distressing figures are those of the self-complacent–the Pope with his paper tiara and lathen cross; the astronomer with paper tube, devoid of lenses, sweeping not the heavens, but the walls of the madhouse; the naked king, with sceptre and crown of straw. Their misery is seen upon their faces; even their self-complacency cannot hide it. The heart is hopeless where the man is self-centred; gladness is as foreign as enthusiasm to him who is full of the sense of what he has acquired. But out of this same dominating thought comes the hope of recovery. When we are conscious of lukewarmness, the first thing which occurs to us is that we ought to be earnest; and we set ourselves to try to be so. We try to arouse the lukewarm to intensity; we lash them with scorn; we overwhelm them with demonstrations of their misery, and present them with images of the resolved; Be earnest, we cry to them again and again; without earnestness there is no possibility of Christian life. How vain it all is! The young may be awakened by appeals; but not those who have come to their lassitude through prosperity, the rich, and increased with goods. One way remains–give them to see the glory of Christ; there is in Him a sublimity, an augustness, a moral dignity and worth which may thrill the soul with a new passion, and set the tides of life flowing toward a central splendour. And this is what we find in the message to Laodicea. First there is presented a stately image of Him who walks about among the seven golden candlesticks. These things saith the Amen, etc. We feel at once the mystic sublimity of the phrases: an unrevealed grandeur is behind the form of the man Christ Jesus, arousing our expectation, moving the heart with a faintly imagining awe. Next, we have a picture of the tender Saviour, one which has entered into our common Christian speech as few presentations even of Christ have, luring on the painter to body forth, and the poet to describe what they can never express, but what we all can feel. Behold, I stand at the door. etc. Here, too, is a cure for self-complacency. The heart can be won by tenderness. And then there is the sublime promise, so reserved, yet sounding into such depths of suggestion–He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down, etc. The throne on which Christ is seated is a Divine throne; but it is also a throne on which are exalted disappointed human hopes. When Jesus died upon the cross He died in faith of what He had not realised. And then the triumph came. God raised him up from the dead and gave Him glory. Christs mission is accomplished when human souls awaken to a faith and a hope for ever in advance of all men can attain to on earth, a faith and a hope which are in God. There is a cure for self-complacency here; and with self-complacency the deathly lukewarmness is gone. There are some pathetic touches which we should notice before closing this solemn, heart-searching appeal to the self-complacent. The abrupt change of tone in Rev 3:17; Rev 18:1-24 is significant. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked–with such an introduction, what words may we not expect to follow, of warning, censure, doom? They are not spoken. The Lord begins in another strain–I counsel thee to buy of Me, etc. The pathos of all self-complacency, at once its condemnation and the more than hope of deliverance from it, is this–the delivering Lord is so nigh. The true riches, the robe of righteousness, the Divine vision, all are for us; to be bought, as Gods best gifts can only be bought, without money and without price. Some words follow with which we are very familiar, the thought they express entering so largely into Biblical teaching and human experience. As many as I love, etc. One of the suggestions of this utterance is, that with all its self-complacency Laodicea was profoundly unhappy. The denizens of Bedlam are more than half conscious of their derangement; the self-satisfied Christian knows how deep is his discontent. Another suggestion is that of coming tribulation; the knocking at the door of which the next verse speaks is an intimation that trouble is at hand. Let it come; it will be welcome; anything will be welcome which can stir this mortal lethargy. The treasures of the Divine chastisement are not exhausted; and they are treasures of the Divine love. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
Laodicea
I. Three aspects of the character of Christ.
1. The Amen. This sets forth His immutability.
2. The faithful and true Witness.
(1) Christ is a Witness–
(a) In His personal life and death.
(b) By the Holy Spirit in the inspired Word, in the plan of redemption, and in the organisation of the Church.
(c) In the hearts of individual believers, where He dwells by faith.
(2) Christ, as Witness, in this threefold sense, is faithful and true.
(3) His promised rewards will be faithfully fulfilled, and His threatened penalties will be strictly carried out.
3. The beginning of the creation of God. The Head, Prince, or Potentate.
II. The twofold character of the Laodicean Church.
1. Latitudinarian.
2. Self-deceived.
III. Christs appropriate counsel.
1. This counsel is characteristic of our Lord.
(1) Tender and considerate.
(2) Appropriate and definite.
(3) Timely and solemn.
2. This counsel is very suggestive.
(1) Buy of Me. In one sense grace cannot be bought. It has been bought–not with silver and gold, etc. In another sense, if we are not willing to give up the world and its sinful pleasures for Divine grace, we shall not obtain it.
(2) Gold tried in the fire. That which enriches the soul for ever, and will endure the test of His judgment.
(3) White raiment (Rev 19:8).
(4) Eye-salve. The illumination of the Holy Spirit.
IV. Three proofs of Christs loving interest.
1. Discipline.
2. Patient, personal appeals to those who have practically rejected Him.
3. His gracious proffer of the highest honour to him who becomes conqueror in His name. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The word of Christ to the congregation at Laodicea
I. Its real character was thoroughly known.
II. Its spiritual indifferentism is divinely abhorrent.
1. Spiritual indifferentism is a most incongruous condition.
2. Spiritual indifferentism is a most incorrigible condition.
III. Its self-deception is terribly alarming.
IV. Its miserable condition need not be hopeless.
1. Recovery is freely offered.
2. Recovery is Divinely urged.
3. Recovery is Divinely rewarded.
(1) The throne of all approving conscience.
(2) The throne of moral rule. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The Church abhorrent to Christ because of the lukewarm temperature of its spiritual life
I. This church was lukewarm in the temperature of its spiritual life.
1. The language of this verse aptly describes the religious state of many Churches now.
(1) A lukewarm Church is unique in the world. In every sphere of life, save the moral, men are red hot.
(2) A lukewarm Church is useless in the world. It cannot make any progress against a vigilant devil and a wicked world.
(3) A lukewarm Church is an anomaly in the world. The Church is destined to represent on earth the most energetic and spiritual ministries which exist in the unseen universe.
(4) A lukewarm Church has much tending to awaken it. It should be awakened by a study of the lives of the Old and New Testament saints, by the earnest life of Christ, by the great need of the world, by the transitoriness of life, and by the quickening influences of the Divine Spirit.
2. That this lukewarm Church was abhorrent to the Divine Being. It is better to be a sinner than a merely nominal Christian; because the latter brings a greater reproach upon the name of Christ; because the latter is in the greater peril; and because hypocrisy is a greater sin than profanity.
II. This lukewarm church, sadly deceived, was wisely counselled as to the real condition of its spiritual life.
1. Sad deception.
(1) The members of this Church imagined that they were rich and had need of nothing.
(2) The members of this Church imagined that they were prosperous.
(3) The members of this Church imagined that they had attained all possible excellence.
2. Wise counsel.
(1) This Church was advised to get true wealth.
(2) This Church was advised to get renewed purity.
(3) This Church was advised to get clear vision.
(4) This Church was advised to get Christly merchandise.
3. Disguised love. All the Divine rebukes are for the moral good of souls, and should lead to repentance and zeal.
III. This church was urgently encouraged to amend its moral condition and to enter upon a zealous life. The advice of Christ is always encouraging. He will help the most degraded Church into a new life. Lessons:
1. That a lukewarm Church is abhorrent to the Divine mind.
2. That Christ gives wise counsel to proud souls.
3. That the most valuable things of life are to be had from Christ without money and without price.
4. Are we possessed of this gold, raiment, eyesalve? (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
These things saith the Amen.—
Christs names
The name which the Lord assumes in addressing this Church is threefold, yet one–the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. The name Amen as here employed has its root in the Old Testament, where God is called the God of truth, the God of the Verily, the God of Amen–not merely distinguishing Him from the lying vanities of the heathen and the phantom-gods of philosophy, but bringing into view the absolute truth of His nature and of all His attributes. We cannot but mark how supremely and absolutely, in assuming this name, Jesus claims to be what the Jehovah of the Old Testament was. Two successive steps may give us a glimpse of the meaning of this name as now assumed and worn by the Lord. In the first place, He Himself is true, and deserves our absolute trust. His compassions are true, His love is true, His word is true, His smile is true, yea, His very silence is true, even as He said to His disciples, If it were not so, I would have told you. He does not say and unsay; He does not come and go; He is without variableness or shadow of turning. In the second place, He is the Amen, the Verily, to all that God has spoken. The ancient promises that had come down through thousands of years unfulfilled are fulfilled in Him, and that not in the letter merely, but in the inner spirit. The promises that still look to the future are in Him certain and sure, as hopes. And so with every word that God has spoken, whether promise or threatening. There is no may be or may not be about them; in Him they are all Amen. He is their full and sure accomplishment, even as He is the accomplishment of the past, Besides being the Amen, Jesus is to the Laodiceans the faithful and true Witness. He is the Messenger and Revealer of the Father, who answers all the deep questions of the conscience and heart, as well as of the intellect, according to the ancient prophecy–Behold, I have given Him for a Witness to the people. I have manifested Thy name, He says to the Father, unto the men whom Thou gavest me out of the world. It is essential to a witness that he have personal knowledge of that which he reports; and this Witness was in the bosom of the Father, and knows what is in His heart. As Witness He is faithful and true. These two words are like the right hand and the left. As I conceive, they are not interchangeable; but each conveys its own distinct and special meaning. Taken together, they mark that He kept back nothing which the Father delivered unto Him, and that all He said might be relied upon to the last jot and tittle. Once more the Lord names Himself the Beginning of the creation of God. We trace the things that are back and up to Jesus Christ; He is the uncaused cause of their being, their vital origin, willing them into existence; and the increasing purpose is but the gradual unfolding of the thought of His heart. It is the same truth that fills such words as these: All things were made by Him, etc. In Him (comprehended within the sphere of His being, power, and will) were all things created, etc. The grand thought is, that this glorious universe, whose origin lies back of human imagination, was brought into being (according to the will of the eternal Father) by our blessed Redeemers creative power, and exists for His sake. (J. Culross, D. D.)
The Amen
The word Amen is much more full of meaning than may be supposed, and as a title of our Lord Jesus Christ it is eminently suggestive. I might have divided my discourse very fairly under these three heads–asserting, consenting, petitioning. For in each of these our adorable Lord Jesus Christ is certainly the Amen. He asserts the will of God–He asserts God Himself. God the Son is constantly called the Word; He who asserts, declares, and testifies God. In the second place, we know that Jesus Christ consents to the will, design, and purpose of Jehovah. He gives an Amen to the will of God–is, in fact, the echo, in His life and in His death, of the eternal purposes of the Most High. And, thirdly, He is the Amen in the petitionary sense, for to all our prayers He gives whatever force and power they have. But we have preferred to divide the discourse another way.
I. Our Lord is superlatively Gods Amen.
1. Long ere you and I had a being, before this great world started out of nothingness, God had made every purpose of His eternal counsel to stand fast and firm by the gift of His dear Son to us. He was then Gods Amen to His eternal purpose.
2. When our Lord actually came upon the earth, He was then Gods Amen to the long line of prophecies. That babe among the horned oxen, that carpenters son, was Gods declaration that prophesy was the voice of heaven.
3. Christ was Gods Amen to all the Levitical types. Especially when up to the Cross as to the altar He went as a victim and was laid thereon, then it was that God solemnly put an Amen into what otherwise was but typical and shadowy.
4. Christ is Gods Amen to the majesty of His law. He has not sinned Himself, but He has the sins of all His people imputed to Him. He has never broken the law, but all our breaches thereof were laid on Him. The law says He is accursed, for He has sin upon Him: will the Father consent that His own Beloved shall be made a curse for us? Hearken and hear the Lords Amen. Awake, O sword, against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord. What, does God the Father say Amen? Can it be? It is even so. He says, Amen. And what an awful Amen too, when the sweat of blood started from every pore of His immaculate body.
5. Jesus Christ is very blessedly Gods Amen to all His covenant promises, for is it not written that all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him Amen.
6. Jesus Christ will be Gods Amen at the conclusion of this dispensation in the fulness of time.
II. He is our Amen in Himself.
1. He proved Himself to be Amen; the God of truth, sincerity, and faithfulness in His fulfilment of covenant engagements. Lo I come! In the volume of the book it is written of Me: I delight to do Thy will, O God. From all eternity He declared Himself to be ready to go through the work, and when the time came He was straightened till the work was done.
2. He was also the Amen in all His teachings. We have already remarked that He constantly commenced with Verily, verily I say unto you. Christ as teacher does not appeal to tradition, or even to reasoning, but gives Himself as His authority.
3. He is also the Amen in all His promises. Sinner, I would comfort thee with this reflection.
4. Jesus Christ is yea and Amen in all His offices. He was a priest to pardon and cleanse once; He is Amen as priest still. He was a King to rule and reign for His people, and to defend them with His mighty arm; He is an Amen King, the same still. He was a prophet of old to foretell good things to come; His lips are most sweet, and drop with honey still–He is an Amen Prophet.
5. He is Amen with regard to His person. He is still faithful and true, immutably the same. Not less than God! Omnipotent, immutable, eternal, omnipresent still! God over all, blessed for ever. O Jesus, we adore Thee, Thou great Amen. He is the same, too, as to His manhood. Bone of our bone still; in all our afflictions still afflicted.
III. He is experimentally Gods Amen to every believing soul.
1. He is Gods Amen in us. If you want to know God you must know Christ; if you want to be sure of the truth of the Bible you must believe Jesus.
2. Jesus Christ is the Amen not only in us, but the Amen for us. When you pray, you say Amen. Did you think of Christ? Did you offer your prayer through Him? Did you ask Him to present it before God? If not, there is no Amen to your prayer.
3. I want that Jesus Christ should be Gods Amen in all our hearts, as to all the good things of the covenant of grace; I am sure He will be if you receive Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Amen
What, then, is the meaning of this sacred word? It means truth; it means reality. I want to bring before you the awfulness of truth–that is, of reality, of sincerity, of guileless simplicity, both as regards our conduct in the life that now is and as regards the eternal life of mans spirit. First, as regards our earthly life. We may each of us spend our lives either in the world or in God. If we live in God–if that life which we now live in the flesh is lived by faith in the Son of God–then we are living in the world of reality. If we are living for the world–if we are setting our affections on the things of the earth–we are living in the midst of fatal delusions and fading shadows. Let a man but once catch a glimpse of the true light, and he learns utterly to despise the dim rushlights of this earths tinselled stage; let but one ray out of eternity shine down into his heart, and for him the world and the things of the world shrivel into insignificance. God is the Amen, and all His laws are eternal: they abide for ever; they are laws not only of reality, not only of righteousness, but of pleasantness and peace. Earnestly, then, would I invite you all to base yourselves on the Amen, on the solid and ultimate reality of life, by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. And no less earnestly would I invite you to base your unshaken lives on the Amen of true religion, without which the house of your life will only be built upon sand. The Church depends solely on the presence of Christ. Religious partisans show their greatest zeal always not for Gods eternal verities, but for what is doubtful and questionable and valueless, and often they pass over the whole essential message and meaning of the gospel of Christ in order to insist on the grossest misinterpretation of some single text. But God is the God of Amen, that is, of truth. Let us then look to the basis of our faith and the basis of our conduct. Will ye, by hypocrisy in conduct, will ye, by petty unreality in faith, offer to the God of Truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie? Reality, sincerity, holiness–the elementary Christian graces, faith, hope, love–the primary Christian duties, soberness, temperance, chastity–these are the things and these are the tests of a true religion; apart from these all else is fringes and phylacteries. (Dean Farrar.)
The Beginning of the creation of God.
The creation of God
The third appellation cannot be limited to the thought of the mere material creation, as if equivalent to the statement that by the Word were all things made. It would thus fail to correspond with the two appellations preceding it, which undoubtedly apply to the work of redemption, while, at the same time, the addition of the words of God would be meaningless or perplexing. Let us add to this that in chap 1:5, immediately after Jesus has been called the faithful Witness, He is described as the First begotten of the dead, and we shay not be able to resist the conviction that the words before us refer primarily to the new creation, the Christian Church, that redeemed humanity which has its true life in Christ. (W. Milligan, D. D.)
I know thy works, that thou art neither hot nor cold.–
The condition of the Laodiceans
I know thy works. There is to be no dealing with them in the dark, as man is compelled to do; no drawing of a bow at a venture; the arrow is aimed straight at the mark. He is about to judge the Laodiceans, and His judgment proceeds on a perfect knowledge of their condition. Thy works, in all that they are and all that they mean and involve, lie open under Mine eye, in the broad, bright sunshine, as they do not lie open even to thyself. An awful thought! you exclaim. Yes, but also unspeakably precious. It is the word, not of the detective who has found us out, and who delivers us to the judge, but of the physician who comprehends our case. His knowledge, His diagnosis, if I may so say, is the stepping-stone of His grace and help. What the works were is not set forth in detail in the epistle. It is not mere quantity, so to speak, but quality that is taken into account. The special region into which the Lord looks is that of the affections. The stress of His charge is that they were indifferent: I know thy works, that thou art neither hot nor cold. From what follows it is evident that the Laodiceans themselves were quite satisfied with things as they were, and had no wish for a change. Christian discipleship (rooted in faith) implies love to Jesus Christ personally. Not merely a true creed, not merely a virtuous and beautiful life, but the hearts love. There may be very few on earth who think our love worth the having; but not so with Jesus, the glorified Redeemer. Man all over, He desires and seeks our love. Year by year our fellowship with Him ought to become more close and delightful; year by year our hearts should become more fully His; and last love should be a greater thing than even first love. In the light of such considerations let us now look at Christs words to Laodicea. Thou art not cold. A Church of Christ should certainly not be that. Yet such Churches exist. They are quite orthodox; their creed is a model of clearness and Scripturalness; they are examples of moral propriety; there is not merely good order, but even fine taste and exquisite grace in their arrangements; yet the temperature is down at freezing-point. Now, the Laodiceans were not cold. The Lord testifies that concerning them. Neither were they hot. The condition indicated by this word is one of entire devotedness and joyful response to the love of Him who died for us, and rose again. It is not merely the supreme affection of a holy soul, rising above all others and commanding them; in some sense it carries in it and contains all other Divine affections, and is also the sum of all duty–the fulfilling of all law how the Laodicean Church was not in a condition like this. There was nothing among them that could be called fervour, or zeal, or self-consecration, or enthusiasm, or holy passion in the cause of Christ. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. Their condition (for it is a condition, and not a stage in the process of warming) is described by the word lukewarm. Love, zeal, joy, delight in worship, desire for the salvation of men, and every other Christian affection and emotion, have been cooling down till they have reached the temperature of indifference. The lukewarmness is shown in all directions. It is shown in the angel of the Church dealing in pleasant nothings, instead of the mighty truths of God, or in intellectual and philosophic refinements, in place of the gospel of grace–accommodating his words to the taste of his hearers, lest he should lose his popularity and preach them away from the church–it is shown in the general community, who love to have it so. It is shown in the tone of conversation common among them, which, instead of being alway with grace, seasoned with salt, degenerates so readily into gossip, debate, frivolity, uncharitable censure of the absent, or merest religious gabble, in which the tongue does everything and the heart does nothing. It is shown in the weekly assembly, in the conscious distance from God that is maintained; in the dislike of spiritual thought, and indeed incapacity for it, and unfitness to deal with any great and deep questions of Divine truth. It is shown in the lightness with which they regard abounding iniquity, smiling where once their eyes would have filled with sudden tears, and they would have withdrawn to pray. It is shown in the neglect of personal effort for the extension of the gospel, and the transference of the work to a substitute–a missionary or Bible-woman–paid at the cheapest possible rate, with the boast of having found the missing link. It is shown in conformity to the world, in the love of worldly society and amusements, in doing what is religiously fashionable, in giving the cold shoulder to unapplauded truth, and in avoiding whatever leads to reproach and the cross. It is shown in the practical powerlessness of the creed which they profess to hold; the most awful and mysterious truths, as one has expressed it, losing all the power of truths, and lying bedridden in the dormitory of the soul. It is unnecessary to proceed further with an account of this evil estate. It is made up of negations, and chiefly the negation of all earnestness. Some things indeed there are that evoke feeling in a lukewarm Church, even to passionateness. Let one, for example, tell plain truth about wine-bibbing or ballrooms or theatres; or let one whose soul is thrilled with a sense of Divine mercy, and who longs to be Christ-like, stand up in the church-meeting and propose united prayer for the revival of religion; or let some Jeremiah with the fire in his bones stand up, not fearing the face of clay, and speak of eternal things with cries and anguish and weeping; and instantly you find the very passion of resentment aroused–though it dare not, for shames sake, express itself plainly–against this troubling of Israel, this breaking of the peace, this molesting of souls, this accusing of the brethren; while it moves them not to know that the honour of Christs name and the salvation of the perishing are at stake. What is the secret of all this? For beforehand we should pronounce lukewarmness on the part of saved men an impossibility; and it can never be regarded otherwise than as most unnatural and even dreadful in a Christian Church. How does it come to pass? One cause, operating more extensively and with greater force than is commonly thought, is the endeavour to retain the first joy of conversion without making progress. The whole and only joy sought after is the joy of forgiveness, to the neglect of the joy of holiness and new obedience. The consequence is that gradually they lose the very joy they have, and sink down into a state of heartless apathy. Again, there is failure in personal, living, realising communion with the Lord Jesus Himself as our Redeemer. It is the grand lack of to-day. Is it strange that spiritual fervour should decline? Would it not be a miracle if it continued? It is as if a betrothed should cease to correspond with her affianced husband; the natural result is the decay of affection. Another cause, operating very widely and very subtly, is unbelief in the fulness and power of grace to enable us to live a victorious Christian life. It is quietly taken for granted that a life of self-consecration and likeness to the Son of God is an impossibility, and that the very utmost we can expect is a never-ceasing debate (conflict it cannot be called) between the flesh and the Spirit, with heaven somehow at the end. The question of main interest–apparently never quite settled–is, How to get clear off in the day of judgment? As for reproducing the life of Christ among men, manifesting it afresh in this mortal body, and being in some real sense His gospels to our age, this is smiled at as a very simple imagination indeed. Then, next, those who forget how high the Christian calling is, and who neglect fellowship with God, become blind to the evil of intermingling the Church and the world in one visible community. For the sake of numbers, or out of friendship with the world, or to make ourselves seem great, or out of a cruel charitableness, the flesh is received into church-fellowship, is treated as a Christian, is taught to use Christian forms of speech, to sing Christian hymns, to pray Christian prayers, to do Christian acts, to aim at the production of Christian virtues, to sit down with saints at the Lords table and commemorate a love that is not believed in or felt. The necessary issue in the long run–indeed, the run is not very long–is the repression of spiritual fervour in the Church and the spread of apathy. Another thing working most disastrously is the poor, poor conception prevalent in Churches of the tremendous necessity of salvation. It is first emptied of its significance, and then it is put into the second rank instead of the first, and then the ardour of the Church inevitably cools, and they are content and take it as quite a matter of course that there should be no conversion of sinners to God. Again, there is the spirit of self-pleasing, the love of comfort and pleasurable sensations, the substitution of taste and culture for godliness, the cry of the preacher, Move us, move us I which by and by becomes, Tickle us, tickle us! Once more, there is the formation of worldly friendships and the entering into associations in which it is impossible to preserve the spirit of Christ. The injury done to piety by such associations and friendships is beyond calculation, both in extent and depth. Now, in whatever light men may regard this condition (and the world praises it, for the world loves its own), Christ is displeased and grieved with it. I would, He says, that thou wert cold or hot. Wilt thou not be so? That would is no unimpassioned word, as one might say, I should prefer it thus or thus: it is a sigh from the heart of distressed love; it carries Divine emotion in it, reminding us of that lamentation over Jerusalem, I would–and ye would not. Thus the Lord makes it evident that He has no pleasure in this half-and-half condition. This is the Lords judgment in the case: I will spue thee out of My mouth. No doubt every believing soul in Laodicea would be saved in the day of the Lord, even though involved in the prevalent lukewarmness. But the Church would be rejected from being a Church. Lukewarmness unrepented of issues in rejection. It is in the history of the Church of Laodicea as a spiritual community that the fulfilment of the Lords threatening is to be found; and the outward desolation is to be regarded only as the visible symbolism of a tremendous spiritual fact. (J. Culross, D. D.)
An earnest warning against lukewarmness
I. The state into which churches are very apt to fall.
1. A Church may fail into a condition far other than that for which it has a repute. It may be famous for zeal, and yet be lethargic. The address of our Lord begins, I know thy works, as much as to say, Nobody else knows you. Men think better of you than you deserve. You do not know yourselves, you think your works to be excellent, but I know them to be very different. The public can only read reports, but Jesus sees for Himself. He knows what is done, and how it is done, and why it is done.
2. The condition described in our text is one of mournful indifference and carelessness. They were not infidels, yet they were not earnest believers; they did not oppose the gospel, neither did they defend it; they were not working mischief, neither were they doing any great good.
3. This condition of indifference is attended with perfect self-complacency. The people who ought to be mourning are rejoicing, and where they should hang out signals of distress they are flaunting the banners of triumph. What can a Church require that we have not in abundance? Yet their spiritual needs are terrible. Spiritually poor and proud.
4. This Church of Laodicea had fallen into a condition which had chased away its Lord. I stand at the door and knock. That is not the position which our Lord occupies in reference to a truly flourishing Church. If we are walking aright with Him, He is in the midst of the Church, dwelling there, and revealing Himself to His people.
II. The danger of such a state.
1. The great danger is, to be rejected of Christ. I will spue thee out of My mouth. Churches are in Christs mouth in several ways, they are used by Him as His testimony to the world, He speaks to the world through their lives and ministries. When God is with a people they speak with Divine power to the world, but if we grow lukewarm Christ says, Their teachers shall not profit, for I have not sent them, neither am I with them. Their word shall be as water spilt on the ground, or as the whistling of the wind. Better far for me to die than to be spued out of Christs mouth. Then He also ceases to plead for such a Church. Mighty are His pleadings for those He really loves, and countless are the blessings which come in consequence. It will be an evil day when He casts a Church out of that interceding mouth. Do you not tremble at such a prospect?
2. Such a Church will be left to its fallen condition, to become wretched–that is to say, miserable, unhappy, divided, without the presence of God, and so without delight in the ways of God.
III. The remedies which the Lord employs.
1. Jesus gives a clear discovery as to the Churchs true state. He says to it, Thou art lukewarm, thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I rejoice to see people willing to know the truth, but most men do not wish to know it, and this is an ill sign. We shall never get right as long as we are confident that we are so already. Self-complacency is the death of repentance.
2. Our Lords next remedy is gracious counsel. He says, I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire.
3. Now comes a third remedy, sharp and cutting, but sent in love, namely rebukes and chastenings. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
4. The best remedy for backsliding Churches is more communion with Christ. Behold, saith He, I stand at the door and knock. This text belongs to the Church of God, not to the unconverted. It is addressed to the Laodicean Church. There is Christ outside the Church, driven there by her unkindness, but He has not gone far away: He loves His Church too much to leave her altogether, He longs to come back, and therefore He waits at the doorpost. He knows that the Church will never be restored till He comes back, and He desires to bless her, and so He stands waiting and knocking. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The destiny of a lukewarm Church
I. The complaint.
1. This complaint is made against the Church. We learn from this fact that Churches do become corrupt; they do decay. Keep, therefore, the Christ of God, who never will fail, or decay, exalted above the Church in your minds and hearts.
2. This complaint is made by One who can say, I know.
3. This complaint is made by One who does know, and cannot misrepresent.
4. This complaint is made by One who does know, and cannot misrepresent, and who has a right to complain. Just let us see now what is meant by the lukewarmness complained of. The people had love for Christ, but it was not ardent. The people had charity among themselves, but it was not fervent. The people received spiritual blessings, but they did not thirst for them. The people wrought good works, but not zealously. The people prayed, but not fervently. They gave, but not liberally or cheerfully. The whole heart was not given to anything in connection with church life. Perhaps through the neglect of the means of preserving spiritual heat, or by using unwise means or false means, these people had become lukewarm, or perhaps by some besetting sin.
5. Now this complaint is based on works. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. One would have thought that the Amen, the true and faithful Witness, would have said, I know thy heart; I know thy spirit. The complaint is based on works, and not so much on general conduct as on labours of love. These were less than since their first profession. Oh, what a striking fact this is in church life! How thoroughly it reappears before the eye of every pastor.
6. See, the complaint is based on works, and it is made with evident feeling. Christ could not speak without feeling, far less could He complain without feeling. It is the want of feeling in the complaints that people make about Churches that so often distresses one.
II. The threatening. Any food or drink which ought to be either hot or cold is most unpleasant if lukewarm; and the strong language used here means, I will reject thee.
1. This threatening is addressed, not to the individual, but to the Church. Christ presently turns to the individual, counselling him to buy of Me gold. You cannot be in communion with Christ without being rebuked. Why? Because your faults and defects are continually coming out, and His love for you is such that He will not let them pass–He cannot let them pass. If, however, you be merely a nominal disciple, they will often pass unnoticed, and you will not hear a sound of rebuke from the skies until the day of final reckoning.
2. The Amen rejects the lukewarm Church. He rejects it–how? First, by withdrawing His Spirit from it because such a Church is not His temple. And secondly, by not using it for the purposes of His kingdom.
3. Now, observe, in conclusion, that works are expected from a Christian Church, and the works of the Church show whether it be cold or hot. (S. Martin.)
Laodicea
I. The loving rebuke of the faithful witness. The persons thus described are Christian people (for their Christianity is presupposed), with very little, though a little, warmth of affection and glow of Christian love and consecration. Further this defectiveness of Christian feeling is accompanied with a large amount of self-complacency. Then again, this deficiency of warmth is worse than absolute zero. I would thou weft cold or hot. Because there is no man more hopeless than a man on whom the power of Christianity has been brought to bear, and has failed in warming and quickening him. Is that our condition? Look at the standard of Christian life round about us. Mark how wavering the line is between the Church and the world; how little upon our side of the line there is of conspicuous consecration and unworldliness: how entirely in regard of an enormous mass of professing Christians, the maxims that are common in the world are their maxims; and the sort of life that the world lives is the sort of life that they live. Look at your Churches and mark their feebleness, the slow progress of the gospel among them, the low lives that the bulk of professing Christians are living, and answer the question, is that the operation of a Divine Spirit that comes to transform and to quicken everything into His own vivid and flaming life? or is it the operation of our own selfishness and worldliness, crushing down and hemming in the power that ought to sway us?
II. The causes of this lukewarmness of spiritual life. Of course the tendency to it is in us all. Take a bar of iron out of the furnace on a winter day, and lay it down in the air, and there is nothing more wanted. Leave it there, and very soon the white heat will change into livid dulness, and then there will come a scale over it, and in a short time it will be as cold as the frosty atmosphere around it. And so there is always a refrigerating process acting upon us, which needs to be counteracted by continual contact with the fiery furnace of spiritual warmth, or else we are cooled down to the degree of cold around us. But besides this universally operating cause there are many others which affect us. I find fault with no man for the earnestness which he flings into his business, but I ask you to say whether the relative importance of the things seen and unseen is fairly represented by the relative amount of earnestness with which you and I pursue these respectively. Then, again, the existence among us, or around us, of a certain widely diffused doubt as to the truths of Christianity is, illogically enough, a cause for diminished fervour on the part of the men that do not doubt them. That is foolish, and it is strange, but it is true. And there is another case, which I name with some hesitation, but which yet seems to me to be worthy of notice; and that is, the increasing degree to which Christian men are occupied with what we call, for want of a better name, secular things. I grudge the political world nothing that it gets of your strength, but I do grudge, for your sakes, as well as for the Churchs sake, that so often the two forms of activity are supposed by professing Christians to be incompatible, and that therefore the more important is neglected, and the less important done.
III. The loving call to deepened earnestness. Be zealous, therefore. Lay hold of the truth that Christ possesses a full store of all that you can want. Meditate on that great truth and it will kindle a flame of desire and of fruition in your hearts. Be zealous, therefore. And again, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore. That is to say, grasp the great thought of the loving Christ, all whose dealings, even when His voice assumes severity, and His hand comes armed with a rod, are the outcome and manifestation of His love; and sink into that love, and that will make your hearts glow. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Be zealous, therefore. Think of the earnest, patient, long-suffering appeal which the Master makes, bearing with all our weaknesses, and not suffering His gentle hand to be turned away, though the door has been so long barred and bolted in His face.
IV. The merciful call to a new beginning. Repent. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The danger of lukewarmness in religion
The soul of man is endowed with active powers that it cannot be idle: and, if we look round the world, we see it all alive. What vigorous action, what labour and toil about the necessaries of life, about riches and honours! But it is quite otherwise in religion. Only a few act as if they regarded religion as the most important concern of life. For look round you, the generality are very indifferent about it. They will not Indeed renounce all religion entirely; they will make some little profession of religion; but it is a matter of indifferency with them, and they are but little concerned about it; they are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot. Now such a luke-warmness is an eternal solecism in religion; it is the most inconsistent thing imaginable: more so than avowed impiety; therefore, says Christ, I would thou wert cold or hot–i.e. You might be anything more consistently than what you are. If you looked upon religion as a cheat, and openly rejected the profession of it, it would not be strange that you should be careless about it and disregard it in practice. But to own it true, and make a profession of it, and yet be lukewarm and indifferent about it, this is the most absurd conduct that can be conceived; for, if it be true, it is certainly the most important and interesting truth in all the world, and requires the utmost exertion of all your powers. There are some aggravations peculiar to the lukewarm professor that render him peculiarly odious; as–
1. He adds the sin of a hypocritical profession to his other sins.
2. He adds the guilt of presumption, pride, and self-flattery, imagining he is in a safe state and in favour with God; whereas he that makes no pretensions to religion has no such umbrage for this conceit and delusion.
3. He is in the most dangerous condition, as he is not liable to conviction, nor so likely to be brought to repentance.
4. The honour of God and religion is more injured by the negligent, unconscientious behaviour of these Laodiceans, than by the vices of those who make no pretensions to religion; with whom therefore its honour has no connection.
But to be more particular: let us take a view of a lukewarm temper in various attitudes, or with respect to several objects.
1. Consider who and what God is. He is the original uncreated beauty, the sum total of all natural and moral perfections, the origin of all the excellences that are scattered through this glorious universe; He is the supreme good, and the only proper portion for our immortal spirits. He also sustains the most majestic and endearing relations to us: our Father, our Preserver and Benefactor, our Lawgiver, and our Judge. Is such a Being to be put off with heartless, lukewarm services?
2. Is lukewarmness a proper temper towards Jesus Christ? Is this a suitable return for that love which brought Him down from His native paradise into our wretched world? Oh, was Christ indifferent about your salvation? Was His love lukewarm towards you?
3. Is lukewarmness and indifferency a suitable temper with respect to a future state of happiness or misery?
4. Let us see how this lukewarm temper agrees with the duties of religion. And as I cannot particularise them all, I shall only mention an instance or two. View a lukewarm professor in prayer. The words proceed no further than from your tongue: you do not pour them out from the bottom of your hearts; they have no life or spirit in them, and you hardly ever reflect upon their meaning. And when you have talked away to God in this manner, you will have it to pass for a prayer. But surely such prayers must bring down a curse upon you instead of a blessing: such sacrifices must be an abomination to the Lord (Pro 15:8). The next instance I shall mention is with regard to the Word of God. You own it Divine, you profess it the standard of your religion, and the most excellent book in the world. Now, if this be the case, it is God that sends you an epistle when you are reading or hearing His Word. How impious and provoking then must it be to neglect it, to let it lie by you as an antiquated, useless book, or to read it in a careless, superficial manner, and hear it with an inattentive, wandering mind! Ye modern Laodiceans, are you not yet struck with horror at the thought of that insipid, formal, spiritless religion you have hitherto been contented with?
1. Consider the difficulties and dangers in your way. You must be made new men, quite other creatures than you now are. And oh! can this work be successfully performed while you make such faint and feeble efforts?
2. Consider how earnest and active men are in other pursuits. Is religion the only thing which demands the utmost exertion of all your powers, and alas! is that the only thing in which you will be dull and inactive? (S. Davies, M. A.)
Lukewarmness
I. What is lukewarmness in religion? It is not Christian moderation. There is the popular and not unfounded prejudice against extremes, a suspicion of too great zeal, too much enthusiasm. And so in the service and the worship of God people choose a middle course between those who are very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts, and those who turn their backs upon Him. They would not like to think anything extravagant; and they prefer to follow public opinion as safest; and then they think they are letting their moderation be known unto all men. Yet, after all, when we come to scrutinise this spirit, it is not quite like moderation and sober-mindedness, and the Lords carefulness not to offend the weak. It is much more like worldly-mindedness.
II. What are the causes of lukewarmness?
1. May we not put first, worldly prosperity, the intrusion of something else into the place which God once occupied, and which God alone ought to occupy in the affections?
2. Another cause is the frequency of little sins. Evil speaking, untruthfulness and exaggeration, outbreaks of temper, vanity, self-indulgence, these, freely indulged, show not only that religion has no real power in the heart, but relax the hold of conscience, lessen our confidence towards God, and so chill our love.
3. Then, again, we may mention dissipation of mind, occupation in so many pursuits that little or no time is allowed for undisturbed communion with God in prayer and meditation. We all find it difficult to keep our attention fixed upon God without distraction. But how much harder if we allow our hearts to be choked with the pleasures and cares of this world! And if we cannot find time to think about Him we certainly shall not have power to love Him first, perhaps not to love Him at all with anything that deserves the name of love. In other ways this dissipation of mind serves to produce lukewarmness. If we are too busy to fix our minds upon God we shall scarcely have time to pay much attention to ourselves. How should we manage that which requires so much resolution, so much abstraction from worldly things, strict self-examination? How should we accurately measure our gain and loss since the last solemn inquiry into our spiritual state? How ascertain where we stand before God?
III. These are some of the causes, and some of the symptoms too–for it is impossible to keep them distinct–of lukewarmness. Some other symptoms may be mentioned. If you suffer yourself on every little pretext to shorten, or to omit, your devotions; if you care more about the fact of going through them than about the manner or the spirit in which you go through them; if, when you feel not altogether happy in your conscience towards God and man, you either neglect self-examination, or set about it in a slovenly way; if, when you have detected a fault in yourself, you are slow at reformation; if you act, day after day, without once sanctifying your motives and your actions to God; if you never aim at forming habits of obedience to His commandments; if you never attack any one particular sin; if you despise little things and daily opportunities; if you delight rather in thinking of the good you have done than of the good you have left undone, resting on the past rather than looking forward into the future; if you never care to have God in all your thoughts, and, by meditation at least, to be a partaker of the sufferings of Christ, then I fear it must be said of you that you are lukewarm.
IV. Would to God that we could as easily tell the remedy as the disease. Try, then, if ever you feel your love growing cold, your faith less vivid, to quicken them by meditation on eternal truths, so as to saturate your minds with the conviction of their infinite importance. Fight against the cause of lukewarmness; against worldliness, self-indulgence, carelessness, habitual sins, however little they may seem, self-complacency in the past, the oppression of too many cares. That can be no duty which perils the soul. (W. Mitchell, M. A.)
Lukewarmness
I. An exposure of some of the disgustful things which are found in lukewarm religion.
1. A lukewarm religion is a direct insult to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I boldly say I do not believe what He teaches, I have given Him the lie. But if I say to Him, I believe what Thou teachest, but I do not think it of sufficient importance for me to disturb myself about it, I do in fact more wilfully resist His word; I as much as say to Him, If it be true, yet is it a thing which I so despise that I will not give my heart to it.
2. Bethink you, again, does the Lord Jesus deserve such treatment at your hands? and may He not well say of such hearts as ours, He would that we were either cold or hot?
3. The lukewarm Christian compromises God before the eyes of the world in all he does and says. The world sees a man who professes to be going to heaven, but he is travelling there at a snails pace. He professes to believe there is a hell, and yet he has tearless eyes and never seeks to snatch souls from going into the fire. Let the minister be as earnest as ever he will about the things of God, the lukewarm Christian neutralises any effect the minister can produce, because the world will judge the Church not by the standard of the pulpit so much as by the level of the pew. And thus they say, There is no need for us to make so much stir about it; these peculiar people, these saints, take it remarkably easy; they think it will all be well; no doubt we do as much as they do, for they do very little.
4. The Lord hateth lukewarmness, because wherever it is found it is out of place. There is no spot near to the throne of God where lukewarmness could stand in a seemly position.
II. Dissuasives against lukewarmness. As Christians, you have to do with solemn realities; you have to do with eternity, with death, with heaven, with hell, with Christ, with Satan, with souls, and can you deal with these things with a cold spirit? Suppose you can, there certainly never was a greater marvel in the world, if you should be able to deal with them successfully. These things demand the whole man. And the day is coming when you will think these things worthy of your whole heart. When you and I shall lie stretched upon our dying beds, I think we shall have to regret, above all other things, our coldness of heart. Ay, and there will be a time when the things of God will seem yet more real even than on the dying bed. I refer to the day when we shall stand at the bar of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The first stages of spiritual decline
If the Christians progress may be likened to a steep and difficult ascent, we may compare his first beginnings of decline to the slow and doubtful motion of some heavy substance from which the force is removed which caused it to ascend, while the impetus is not yet gained which will shortly urge it down its headlong, unresisted course. Betwixt ceasing to mount upwards and beginning to fall back, there is an awful moment of suspense. Or, to use another illustration, when the tide has risen to its height there is still-water for a time, before the ebbing waves begin to retire. Just so with the business of the soul.
I. The signs of lukewarmness in religion.
1. We may first describe the state to which the Lord refers in the message to Laodicea as a state of great spiritual insensibility.
2. Another symptom of lukewarmness in religion may be discovered in the influence which the opinions and the example of the world exert upon us. Why not preserve just so much of religion as will satisfy the meagre demands of a sleepy conscience, and yet enjoy the pleasures, and pursue with breathless haste the riches, of the world? The attempt is vain!
3. But, further, that Laodicean spirit which the text describes, betrays itself at length in a decay of zeal for God. Does it cause you but little sorrow that the Saviour of the world should still be an outcast from so large and fair a portion of His inheritance? Have you no bowels of mercies for a perishing world?
II. Some of those circumstances which render this lukewarm state so dangerous to the soul.
1. The first that strikes us arises from the very nature of spiritual religion. For it is a contest against a corrupt nature. All the natural aids are on the side of sin: the world and the flesh are banded in one common cause. So that to lose ground in religion is not merely to risk our souls by wasting those advantages we have gained, but, further, it is to arm our enemies; it is to give to them the advantages which we have lost: for the attractive power of sin increases as we approach it.
2. The danger of this state is increased by the circumstance that there is in it nothing which at first excites alarm. For it is not a lapse into open sin. It does not amount to a rejection of the gospel. After all, the lukewarm Christian, compared with the multitude, is a religious man. And all this serves to soothe and to quiet his conscience. (J. B. Marsden, M. A.)
The danger of lukewarmness
1. There seems to be more likelihood of repentance, where men are manifestly wrong, than where there is ever so small ground on which they flatter themselves that they are right. Conscience in the one case may be awakened more readily by Gods ordinary dispensations of providence and grace, than in the other, where it is lulled by the fatal satisfaction of being no worse than the world in general, of being almost if not quite a Christian.
2. The absolutely cold are in one respect less hardened than the lukewarm. They have at least usually less familiarity with those means of grace, whose abuse is as sure to harden the heart as their right use is to melt and refine it.
3. A third reason why the faithful Witness might wish even that we were cold rather than lukewarm is, that in the latter case we do more signal disparagement to the grace He dispenses, to the gospel He has revealed. (Canon Girdlestone.)
The three stages of religious emotion
I. The hot condition. Some degree of warmth is necessary for the commencement of a religious experience. In the earliest days, wherever the Word was preached, wherever it penetrated mens hearts, there was s rush of spiritual emotion, a glow of inspiration, an effervescence of feeling, a new, strange joy. This was the token of the Spirits presence. And what was true at first is true still, because religious history is a history of commencements and recommencements. Science has taught us that heat and motion are interchangeable, that heat is but a mode or form of motion, and motion but a mode or form of heat. The heat of the furnace and boiler is turned into the motion of the engine; the heat produced by the food we eat is turned into the motion of our bodies. The suns heat stored up in the coal measures becomes the motion of a thousand factories. So it is in the moral world. To start and to keep up motion, right action, zealous effort, painstaking and fruitful activity, you must have heat within the soul. You know the type of Christian men whose enthusiasm is always at a glow. It brightens, and sparkles, and runs over. They thaw you, they warm you, when you come near them. These are the men who seem to respond to every genuine influence of Gods Spirit. They have built the house of their faith not merely on the good foundation, but they have been wise, and built it with a warm, bright exposure as well. The forces of evil and temptation are strong. You must, therefore, have ardent religious feeling; you must have the action, the sympathy, the way of looking at and speaking of things that come with such strong feeling; otherwise the young and trustful, the men full of keen, vigorous life, will be swept into some of those vortices of evil and be lost.
II. The cold condition. There is, of course, in human nature a continual tendency to cool down. Like the earths surface during the night, our hearts are incessantly raying off heat. People dont intend probably to be cold and insensible to the things of God, but their mental force is run off, and so they grow cold. But then, once coldness comes it propagates itself, it even justifies itself. Men permanently, steadily cold, men with the spiritual thermometer standing constantly at zero, take various lines. There is among those who still profess to be Christians what may be called an orthodox and a heterodox coldness. Orthodox coldness still preserves the form of its faith, though that faith, instead of being a living figure, is a mere marble effigy–a corpse. Heterodox coldness has readjusted its beliefs and considerably modified them. Cold tends to contract most things, and faith among the rest. When men become cold after this fashion they become incapable of high belief, the belief that transforms a man and brings him near to God. They narrow their horizon, and all the stars go out of their sky. Cold men are dangerous neighbours. They very soon draw off all the heat from us. Let a centre of ice once form in a pond, and if the water be undisturbed, in a few hours it is frozen over. If we wish to preserve our heat, we must take care what company we keep. Alas! for that icy chill that has settled over many a heart that once throbbed kindly and truly in the service of Christ and of humanity I Some of the cold men look like icebergs. The fact is, they are not icebergs; they are extinct volcanoes. They once glowed with deep subterranean fires, and a red-hot stream of energy poured down the mountain-side. Now, there is only a collection of sulphur and ashes and crusted lava cakes.
III. The lukewarm condition. Lukewarmness is a stage of cooling down. No soul stops short at this stage. The heart leaps at once into fire and life. But it chills gradually. A lukewarm man you cannot describe. He is a mere collection of negations. His soul is like a reservoir or bath, into which streams of hot water and cold are being run at the same time, and you cannot tell which current is stronger, for they are often about equally strong. A lukewarm man has force, but it never moves him to any definite action. He has sympathies, but they tend to evaporate. He thinks, on the whole, he is a good, a religious man, on the side of Christ and of right. Other people are, on the whole, not quite sure what side he is on. The lukewarm man does not make it a principle to confine his religion to the four walls of the church, and the two boards of the Bible. He holds that it should not be so confined. And so he carries a few scraps of it into his daily life. He knows that prayer should not be an empty form, so he occasionally tries to pray inwardly and sincerely–that is, when he is neither very tired nor very busy. He has never given way on a question of principle, except when he was very hard pushed, or it appeared that very few people were looking on: and he has really often regretted giving way at all. He does not intend to do it again. A lukewarm man generally does a little Christian work, not, of course, enough to involve any sacrifice or exhaustion, nor would he take any pains to provide a substitute for occasional or even frequent absence. It is only genuine workers who do that. The lukewarm person has made a great many vows in the matter of religion in the course of his or her life–too many, in fact. It would have been better to have made fewer and kept some.
IV. Christs verdict on these stages of religious emotion. He regards it best to be hot, next best to be cold, worst of all to be lukewarm. Two or three reasons may be suggested.
1. There is, first, its unreality. Lukewarmness is a sort of imposture or sham. It is neither one thing nor another; and in a world that is sternly real, things and persons ought to have a definite character. Lukewarmness is the absence of character. It perplexes an outsider, and often imposes on a man himself.
2. Then it is useless. It has really no place in the order of things.
3. Further, it is a very impracticable state. You dont know how to deal with it.
4. Lastly, it is a dangerous state. It is more difficult to treat a man in a low fever than to treat a man who is sharply unwell. Lukewarmness tends not to get hotter, but to get colder. There is really more hope for s man who is cold outright. He is not blinding himself. He is not playing with truths. He knows he is cold. As a rule it is only when lukewarmness has died down into coldness that a change for the better comes. A man loses all, or almost all, religious life and interest, and then he starts to find himself thus dead, and turns in penitence and fear to Christ. (John F. Ewing, M. A.)
Lukewarmness in religion
I. The temper which our lord reproves in the Church of Laodicea.
1. They are lukewarm who are at no pains to guard against error, and to acquire just sentiments of religion.
2. They are lukewarm who, from worldly hopes or fears, detain in unrighteousness the truth they know, and who will not profess it openly.
3. They are lukewarm who give God the body, but withhold from Him the soul.
4. The inactivity of professed Christians is a strong proof that they are lukewarm.
5. Many discover their lukewarmness by the limitations within which they confine their obedience, or by the weakness of their religious affections, when compared with their affections to worldly objects.
6. They are lukewarm who are little affected with the advancement or the decay of religion, or with that which concerns the common welfare of mankind.
II. Why a lukewarm spirit so woefully prevails among many who profess to believe the religion of Jesus. Lukewarmness prevails through an evil heart of unbelief. Men imagine that they believe the threatenings of the law and the promises of the gospel, who have never considered either their interesting nature or their undoubted certainty. Strangers they must be to holy fervour of spirit who see not the beauty and glory, and who relish not the pleasures of religion; who talk of treasures in heaven, but view the treasures of this earth as more desirable; and who fondly cherish a secret hope that God will be less severe on transgressors than the language of His threatenings supposes. The want of religious principles, ill-founded and presumptuous hopes, and that lukewarmness which flows from both, are greatly promoted by bad education and by bad example. The ordinary commerce of the world completes the ruin which education had begun. The conversation and manners of those whom the young are taught to love, or whose superior age and wisdom they respect, completely pervert their ideas, their resolutions, and their conduct.
III. The folly, guilt, and danger of this lukewarm temper.
1. The lukewarm practically deny the excellence and the importance of religion.
2. A lukewarm religion answers no valuable purpose.
3. The temper and conduct of the lukewarm is peculiarly base and criminal.
(1) It argues the vilest ingratitude.
(2) It indicates hypocrisy.
(3) The man who is lukewarm disgraces the worthy name by which he is called.
4. The lukewarm are not reclaimed without great difficulty, and they are always waxing worse and worse, whether it is pride, or self-deceit, or gross hypocrisy which chiefly prevails in their characters.
5. Lukewarmness exposes men to the dreadful effects of Gods vengeance in temporal judgments, in spiritual plagues, and in eternal destruction. (John Erskine, D. D.)
Lukewarmness
No one can help admiring a straightforward, honourable course, and when the world says of a man that he is sitting on the fence, it is hardly considered as a compliment.
I. The first alarming symptom of the existence of lukewarmness is a growing inattention to the private duties of religion.
II. Another evidence of the encroachments of lukewarmness is carelessness in attending public worship.
III. A third symptom of lukewarmness, about which there can be no possible mistake is an indifference concerning the benevolent enterprises of the day, and scant offerings for their furtherance. The world has an eagle eye for anything inconsistent, and nothing disgusts it more than lukewarmness in those who claim to be followers of Christ. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
Indifference
The besetting sin of that ancient Church of Asia was lukewarmness, half-hearted indifference. It is the besetting sin among us to-day. I dont care, are words more commonly spoken among us than, I dont believe. A careless, or idle, or even vicious boy at school may be reclaimed, but one who takes no interest in his work is a hopeless case. Look at some of the results of being indifferent about religion.
1. It makes our religion unreal. It is not the love of God which constrains us, but fashion, or custom. Our religion is like a spurious coin, good enough to look on, but when tried it does not ring true.
2. Next, indifference makes people ignorant of the teachings of the Church, they are often unacquainted with the very A B C of Christianity.
3. Again, this lukewarm indifference makes people selfish and idle. The idea of making any sacrifice for Christs sake is not in their thoughts.
4. But above all, this lukewarm indifference leads to a shallow view of sin. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)
Lukewarmness injurious to others
One lukewarm Christian may do untold harm to a whole Church. Pour a quantity of tepid water into a vessel that contains boiling water, and immediately the temperature of the whole will sink. Just so the contact of men who are indifferent with those who are fervid, deadens their fervour, and tends to reduce them to the same lukewarmness. (G. Bowes.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Epistle to the Church of the Laodiceans.
Verse 14. These things saith the Amen] That is, He who is true or faithful; from aman, he was tree; immediately interpreted, The faithful and true witness. See Re 1:5.
The beginning of the creation of God] That is, the head and governor of all creatures: the king of the creation. See on Col 1:15. By his titles, here, he prepares them for the humiliating and awful truths which he was about to declare, and the authority on which the declaration was founded.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We read of this church, Col 4:16.
Laodicea was a city in Lydia, by the river Lycus: see Rev 1:11.
These things saith the Amen: Amen, as we have oft noted, is a particle used in asserting, and in wishing, or praying; here it hath the use of a noun, and is assertive, he that is true, as it followeth. He may be conceived thus to preface his epistle, to ascertain to the ministers of this church the truth of what he blames in them; or of the threatenings or promises contained in it; to which purpose he also calls himself
the faithful and true witness: see the notes on Rev 1:5.
The beginning of the creation of God: those that deny the Divinity of Christ, are deceived in their thoughts that this text will afford them any defence for their error; for , the word here used, doth not only signify the cause, but principality, or the chief, or prince, Eph 3:10; Col 1:16. Hence Christ is said to be , which we translate the beginning, because he was the Creator, the efficient cause of the creation, or hath a lordship over the whole creation; all power both in heaven and earth being committed to him, and all knees both in heaven and earth bowing down to him, Phi 2:10. Unless we had rather interpret it of the new creation, either in the world, so he was the beginning of the gospel; or in particular souls, so he is the beginning of regeneration and sanctification. But though this be a truth, and consistent enough with the Greek phrase, Gal 6:15, yet I see no reason why we should fly to it against the Arians, or their spurious offspring; for taking the creation, as ordinarily it signifies, the giving all creatures their first being, Christ was the efficient cause of it, and so the beginning of it, without him was nothing made; and he hath a lordship and dominion over it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. LaodiceansThe city was inthe southwest of Phrygia, on the river Lycus, not far from Colosse,and lying between it and Philadelphia. It was destroyed by anearthquake, A.D. 62, andrebuilt by its wealthy citizens without the help of the state[TACITUS, Annals,14.27]. This wealth (arising from the excellence of its wools) led toa self-satisfied, lukewarm state in spiritual things, as Re3:17 describes. See on Col 4:16,on the Epistle which is thought to have been written to the LaodiceanChurch by Paul. The Church in latter times was apparentlyflourishing; for one of the councils at which the canon of Scripturewas determined was held in Laodicea in A.D.361. Hardly a Christian is now to be found on or near its site.
the Amen (Isa65:16, Hebrew, “Bless Himself in the God of Amen. . . swear by the God of Amen,” 2Co1:20). He who not only says, but is, the Truth. The saintsused Amen at the end of prayer, or in assenting to the word ofGod; but none, save the Son of God, ever said, “Amen, I say untoyou,” for it is the language peculiar to God, who avers byHimself. The New Testament formula, “Amen. I say unto you,”is equivalent to the Old Testament formula, “as I live,saith Jehovah.” In John’s Gospel alone He uses (in the Greek)the double “Amen,” Joh 1:51;Joh 3:3, c. in EnglishVersion,” Verily, verily.” The title happily harmonizeswith the address. His unchanging faithfulness as “the Amen”contrasts with Laodicea’s wavering of purpose, “neither hot norcold” (Re 3:16). The angelof Laodicea has with some probability been conjectured to beArchippus, to whom, thirty years previously, Paul had already given amonition, as needing to be stirred up to diligence in his ministry.So the Apostolic Constitutions, [8.46], name him as the firstbishop of Laodicea: supposed to be the son of Philemon (Phm2).
faithful and true witnessAs”the Amen” expresses the unchangeable truth of Hispromises; so “the faithful the true witness,” the truth ofHis revelations as to the heavenly things which He has seen andtestifies. “Faithful,” that is, trustworthy (2Ti 2:11;2Ti 2:13). “True” ishere (Greek, “alethinos“) nottruth-speaking (Greek, “alethes“), but”perfectly realizing all that is comprehended in the nameWitness” (1Ti 6:13).Three things are necessary for this: (1) to have seen with His owneyes what He attests; (2) to be competent to relate it for others;(3) to be willing truthfully to do so. In Christ all these conditionsmeet [TRENCH].
beginning of the creation ofGodnot he whom God created first, but as in Col1:15-18 (see on Col 1:15-18),the Beginner of all creation, its originating instrument. Allcreation would not be represented adoring Him, if He were but one ofthemselves. His being the Creator is a strong guarantee for Hisfaithfulness as “the Witness and Amen.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,…. Of the city of Laodicea, [See comments on Re 1:11]; there was a church here in the times of the Apostle Paul; by whom it was founded is not known; mention is made of it in Col 2:1, who was now the angel, or pastor of it, whether Epaphras, who is there named, or another, is not certain. According to the Apostolical Constitutions t, Archippus was ordained bishop of it by the apostles; see Col 4:16. There was a church here in the second century, for Sagaris, bishop of it, suffered martyrdom in the times of Antoninus Verus u; and in the “fourth” century, this church was famous for two eminent bishops, Theodorus and Gregory; and in the “fifth” century, it was the metropolitan church of Phrygia, as it was in the “seventh” century, in which age Tyberius, bishop of this place, was in the sixth synod at Constantinople w; but now it is even without inhabitants x. This church represents the state of the church, from the end of the spiritual reign of Christ, till the time of his personal appearing and kingdom, to judge the quick and dead; for after the spiritual reign is over, professors of religion will sink into a formality, and into a lukewarm frame of spirit, and into great spiritual sloth and security, Re 3:15, which will make those times like the times of Noah and of Lot; and such will be the days of the coming of the son of man to judge the world. Its name signifies either “the righteousness of the people”; and so may point at that popular and external righteousness, which the majority of the professors of religion in this period of time will be boasting of, and trusting in; being self-sufficient, and self-dependent, when at the same time they will be naked, as well as poor and blind, Re 3:17; or it signifies “the judging of the people”; for this church state, at the end of it, will bring on the general judgment; the Judge will now be at the door indeed, standing and knocking; and they that are ready to meet the bridegroom, when he comes, will be admitted into the nuptial chamber, and sit down with him in his throne, in the thousand years’ kingdom, at the close of which will be the second resurrection, when all the people, small and great, shall be judged, Re 3:19.
These things saith the Amen; see Isa 65:16; The word “Amen” is the name of a divine Person with the Jews, and it seems the second Person; for so on those words in Pr 8:30; “then was I by him as one brought up with him”, they observe y, do not read “Amon”, the word there used, but “Amen”; and, a little after, “Amen”, they say, is the “notaricon”, or sign of , “God the faithful King”; they make z “Amen” to be one of the names of the second “Sephira”, or number in the Cabalistic tree, by whom the second Person in the Godhead seems to be designed: and they say a, that the word “Amen”, by gematry (or numerically) answers to the two names “Jehovah, Adonai”. Christ may be so called, because he is the God of truth, and truth itself; and it may be expressive of his faithfulness, both to God his Father, and to his people, in whom all the promises he either made, or received, are yea and amen; and also of the firmness, constancy, and immutability of Christ, in his nature, person, and offices, in his love, fulness of grace, power, blood, and righteousness; and is very appropriately assumed by him now, when he was about to give the finishing stroke to all covenant engagements, and to all promises and prophesies; see Re 1:18.
The faithful and true witness; who as he was in the days of his flesh, [See comments on Re 1:5]; so he will be at the day of judgment, a swift witness against all ungodly men; and he may the rather take up this title, not only on that account, but to show that the description he gives of the state and condition of this church is just, Re 3:15; and to engage it to take his advice the more readily, Re 3:18; and to assure it of the nearness of his coming, Re 3:20; and to strengthen the faith of his people, and quicken their hope and expectation of the happiness with him promised, Re 3:21; the same character is given to the Logos, or Word of the Lord, by the Targumist in Jer 42:5, let the Word of the Lord be to us , “for a true and faithful witness”; the very phrase here used.
The beginning of the creation of God; not the first creature that God made, but the first cause of the creation; the first Parent, producer, and efficient cause of every creature; the author of the old creation, who made all things out of nothing in the beginning of time; and of the new creation, the everlasting Father of, everyone that is made a new creature; the Father of the world to come, or of the new age and Gospel dispensation; the Maker of the new heaven and new earth; and so a very fit person to be the Judge of the whole world, to summon all nations before him, and pass the final sentence on them. The phrase is Jewish, and it is a title the Jews give to Metatron, by whom they sometimes mean the Messiah; so those words in
Ge 24:2, and Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, they paraphrase thus b;
“”and Abraham said unto his servant”, this is Metatron, (or the Mediator,) the servant of God, “the eldest of his house”; for he is , “the beginning of the creation of God”, who rules over all that he has; for to him the holy blessed God has given the government of all his hosts.”
Christ is the , “the Prince”, or Governor of all creatures.
t L. 7. c. 46. u Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 4. c. 26. & l. 5. c. 24. w Eccl. Hist. Magdeburg. cent. 4. c. 2. p. 3. cent. 5. c. 7. p. 418. cent. 7. c. 2. p. 3. c. 7. p. 112. c. 10. p. 254. x Smith. Notitia, p. 150. y Zohar in Deut. fol. 121. 4. so in T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 119. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 111. 1. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 46. 1. z Cabal. Denud. par. 2. p. 7. a Lex. Cabal. p. 130. & Baal Hatturim in Deut. xxviii. 15. b Zohar in Gen. fol. 77. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Church in Laodicea. | A. D. 95. |
14 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; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 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: 18 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 eye-salve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 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. 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. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
We now come to the last and worst of all the seven Asian churches, the reverse of the church of Philadelphia; for, as there was nothing reproved in that, here is nothing commended in this, and yet this was one of the seven golden candlesticks, for a corrupt church may still be a church. Here we have, as before,
I. The inscription, to whom, and from whom. 1. To whom: To the angel of the church of Laodicea. This was a once famous city near the river Lycus, had a wall of vast compass, and three marble theatres, and, like Rome, was built on seven hills. It seems, the apostle Paul was very instrumental in planting the gospel in this city, from which he wrote a letter, as he mentions in the epistle to the Colossians, the last chapter, in which he sends salutations to them, Laodicea not being above twenty miles distant from Colosse. In this city was held a council in the fourth century, but it has been long since demolished, and lies in its ruins to this day, an awful monument of the wrath of the Lamb. 2. From whom this message was sent. Here our Lord Jesus styles himself the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. (1.) The Amen, one that is steady and unchangeable in all his purposes and promises, which are all yea, and all amen. (2.) The faithful and true witness, whose testimony of God to men ought to be received and fully believed, and whose testimony of men to God will be fully believed and regarded, and will be a swift but true witness against all indifferent lukewarm professors. (3.) The beginning of the creation of God, either of the first creation, and so he is the beginning, that is, the first cause, the Creator, and the Governor of it; or of the second creation, the church; and so he is the head of that body, the first-born from the dead, as it is in ch. i. 5, whence these titles are taken. Christ, having raised up himself by his own divine power, as the head of a new world, raises up dead souls to be a living temple and church to himself.
II. The subject-matter, in which observe,
1. The heavy charge drawn up against this church, ministers and people, by one who knew them better than they knew themselves: Thou art neither cold nor hot, but worse than either; I would thou wert cold or hot, v. 15. Lukewarmness or indifference in religion is the worst temper in the world. If religion is a real thing, it is the most excellent thing, and therefore we should be in good earnest in it; if it is not a real thing, it is the vilest imposture, and we should be earnest against it. If religion is worth any thing, it is worth every thing; an indifference here is inexcusable: Why halt you between two opinions? If God be God, follow him; if Baal (be God), follow him. Here is no room for neutrality. An open enemy shall have a fairer quarter than a perfidious neuter; and there is more hope of a heathen than of such. Christ expects that men should declare themselves in earnest either for him or against him.
2. A severe punishment threatened: I will spue thee out of my mouth. As lukewarm water turns the stomach, and provokes to a vomit, lukewarm professors turn the heart of Christ against them. He is sick of them, and cannot long bear them. They may call their lukewarmness charity, meekness, moderation, and a largeness of soul; it is nauseous to Christ, and makes those so that allow themselves in it. They shall be rejected, and finally rejected; for far be it from the holy Jesus to return to that which has been thus rejected.
3. We have one cause of this indifference and inconsistency in religion assigned, and that is self-conceitedness or self-delusion. They thought they were very well already, and therefore they were very indifferent whether they grew better or no: Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, c., <i>v. 17. Here observe, What a difference there was between the thoughts they had of themselves and the thoughts that Christ had of them. (1.) The high thoughts they had of themselves: Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, rich, and growing richer, and increased to such a degree as to be above all want or possibility of wanting. Perhaps they were well provided for as to their bodies, and this made them overlook the necessities of their souls. Or they thought themselves well furnished in their souls: they had learning, and they took it for religion; they had gifts, and they took them for grace; they had wit, and they took it for true wisdom; they had ordinances, and they took up with them instead of the God of ordinances. How careful should we be not to put the cheat upon our own souls! Doubtless there are many in hell that once thought themselves to be in the way to heaven. Let us daily beg of God that we may not be left to flatter and deceive ourselves in the concerns of our souls. (2.) The mean thoughts that Christ had of them; and he was not mistaken. He knew, though they knew not, that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Their state was wretched in itself, and such as called for pity and compassion from others: though they were proud of themselves, they were pitied by all who knew their case. For, [1.] They were poor, really poor, when they said and thought they were rich; they had no provision for their souls to live upon; their souls were starving in the midst of their abundance; they were vastly in debt to the justice of God, and had nothing to pay off the least part of the debt. [2.] They were blind; they could not see their state, nor their way, nor their danger; they could not see into themselves; they could not look before them; they were blind, and yet they thought they saw; the very light that was in them was darkness, and then how great must that darkness be! They could not see Christ, though evidently set forth, and crucified, before their eyes. They could not see God by faith, though always present in them. They could not see death, though it was just before them. They could not look into eternity, though they stood upon the very brink of it continually. [3.] They were naked, without clothing and without house and harbour for their souls. They were without clothing, had neither the garment of justification nor that of sanctification. Their nakedness both of guilt and pollution had no covering. They lay always exposed to sin and shame. Their righteousnesses were but filthy rags; they were rags, and would not cover them, filthy rags, and would defile them. And they were naked, without house or harbour, for they were without God, and he has been the dwelling-place of his people in all ages; in him alone the soul of man can find rest, and safety, and all suitable accommodations. The riches of the body will not enrich the soul; the sight of the body will not enlighten the soul; the most convenient house for the body will not afford rest nor safety to the soul. The soul is a different thing from the body, and must have accommodation suitable to its nature, or else in the midst of bodily prosperity it will be wretched and miserable.
4. We have good counsel given by Christ to this sinful people, and that is that they drop their vain and false opinion they had of themselves, and endeavour to be that really which they would seem to be: I counsel thee to buy of me, c., <i>v. 18. Observe, (1.) Our Lord Jesus Christ continues to give good counsel to those who have cast his counsels behind their backs. (2.) The condition of sinners in never desperate, while they enjoy the gracious calls and counsels of Christ. (3.) Our blessed Lord, the counsellor, always gives the best advice, and that which is most suitable to the sinner’s case; as here, [1.] These people were poor; Christ counsels them to buy of him gold tried in the fire, that they might be rich. He lets them know where they might have true riches and how they might have them. First, Where they might have them–from himself; he sends them not to the streams of Pactolus, nor to the mines of Potosi, but invites them to himself, the pearl of price. Secondly, And how must they have this true gold from him? They must buy it. This seems to be unsaying all again. How can those that are poor buy gold? Just as they may buy of Christ wine and milk, that is, without money and without price, Isa. lv. 1. Something indeed must be parted with, but it is nothing of a valuable consideration, it is only to make room for receiving true riches. “Part with sin and self-sufficiency, and come to Christ with a sense of your poverty and emptiness, that you may be filled with his hidden treasure.” [2.] These people were naked; Christ tells them where they might have clothing, and such as would cover the shame of their nakedness. This they must receive from Christ; and they must only put off their filthy rags that they might put on the white raiment which he had purchased and provided for them–his own imputed righteousness for justification and the garments of holiness and sanctification. [3.] They were blind; and he counsels them to buy of him eye-salve, that they might see, to give up their own wisdom and reason, which are but blindness in the things of God, and resign themselves to his word and Spirit, and their eyes shall be opened to see their way and their end, their duty and their true interest; a new and glorious scene would then open itself to their souls; a new world furnished with the most beautiful and excellent objects, and this light would be marvellous to those who were but just now delivered from the powers of darkness. This is the wise and good counsel Christ gives to careless souls; and, if they follow it, he will judge himself bound in honour to make it effectual.
5. Here is added great and gracious encouragement to this sinful people to take the admonition and advice well that Christ had given them, Rev 3:19; Rev 3:20. He tells them, (1.) It was given them in true and tender affection: “Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. You may think I have given you hard words and severe reproofs; it is all out of love to your souls. I would not have thus openly rebuked and corrected your sinful lukewarmness and vain confidence, if I had not been a lover of your souls; had I hated you, I would have let you alone, to go on in sin till it had been your ruin.” Sinners ought to take the rebukes of God’s word and rod as tokens of his good-will to their souls, and should accordingly repent in good earnest, and turn to him that smites them; better are the frowns and wounds of a friend than the flattering smiles of an enemy. (2.) If they would comply with his admonitions, he was ready to make them good to their souls: Behold, I stand at the door and knock, c., <i>v. 20. Here observe, [1.] Christ is graciously pleased by his word and Spirit to come to the door of the heart of sinners; he draws near to them in a way of mercy, ready to make them a kind visit. [2.] He finds this door shut against him; the heart of man is by nature shut up against Christ by ignorance, unbelief, sinful prejudices. [3.] When he finds the heart shut, he does not immediately withdraw, but he waits to be gracious, even till his head be filled with the dew. [4.] He uses all proper means to awaken sinners, and to cause them to open to him: he calls by his word, he knocks by the impulses of his Spirit upon their conscience. [5.] Those who open to him shall enjoy his presence, to their great comfort and advantage. He will sup with them; he will accept of what is good in them; he will eat his pleasant fruit; and he will bring the best part of the entertainment with him. If what he finds would make but a poor feast, what he brings will make up the deficiency: he will give fresh supplies of graces and comforts, and thereby stir up fresh actings of faith, and love, and delight; and in all this Christ and his repenting people will enjoy pleasant communion with each other. Alas! what do careless obstinate sinners lose by refusing to open the door of the heart to Christ!
III. We now come to the conclusion of this epistle; and here we have as before,
1. The promise made to the overcoming believer. It is here implied, (1.) That though this church seemed to be wholly overrun and overcome with lukewarmness and self-confidence, yet it was possible that by the reproofs and counsels of Christ they might be inspired with fresh zeal and vigour, and might come off conquerors in their spiritual warfare. (2.) That, if they did so, all former faults should be forgiven, and they should have a great reward. And what is that reward? They shall sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and have sat down with my Father on his throne, v. 21. Here it is intimated, [1.] That Christ himself had met with his temptations and conflicts. [2.] That he overcame them all, and was more than a conqueror. [3.] That, as the reward of his conflict and victory, he has sat down with God the Father on his throne, possessed of that glory which he had with the Father from eternity, but which he was pleased very much to conceal on earth, leaving it as it were in the hands of the Father, as a pledge that he would fulfil the work of a Saviour before he reassumed that manifestative glory; and, having done so, then pignus reposcere–he demands the pledge, to appear in his divine glory equal to the Father. [4.] That those who are conformed to Christ in his trials and victories shall be conformed to him in his glory; they shall sit down with him on his throne, on his throne of judgment at the end of the world, on his throne of glory to all eternity, shining in his beams by virtue of their union with him and relation to him, as the mystical body of which he is the head.
2. All is closed up with the general demand of attention (v. 22), putting all to whom these epistles shall come in mind that what is contained in them is not of private interpretation, not intended for the instruction, reproof, and correction of those particular churches only, but of all the churches of Christ in all ages and parts of the world: and as there will be a resemblance in all succeeding churches to these, both in their graces and sins, so they may expect that God will deal with them as he dealt with these, which are patterns to all ages what faithful, and fruitful churches may expect to receive from God, and what those who are unfaithful may expect to suffer from his hand; yea, that God’s dealings with his churches may afford useful instruction to the rest of the world, to put them upon considering, If judgment begin at the house of God, what shall the end of those be that do not obey the gospel of Christ? 1 Pet. iv. 17. Thus end the messages of Christ to the Asian churches, the epistolary part of this book. We now come to the prophetical part.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
In Laodicea ( ). Forty miles south-east of Philadelphia and some forty miles east of Ephesus, the last of the seven churches addressed with special messages, on the river Lycus on the border of Phrygia, near Colossae and Hierapolis, recipient of two letters by Paul (Col 4:16), on the great trade-route from Ephesus to the east and seat of large manufacturing and banking operations (especially of woollen carpets and clothing, Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, p. 40ff.), centre of the worship of Asklepios and seat of a medical school and also of a provincial court where Cicero lived and wrote many of his letters, home of many Jews, called by Ramsay (op. cit., p. 413) “the City of Compromise,” the church here founded apparently by Epaphras (Col 1:7; Col 4:12), now a deserted ruin, one of six cities with this name (meaning justice of the people). No praise is bestowed on this church, but only blame for its lukewarmness.
The Amen ( ). Personal (masculine article) name here alone, though in Isa 65:16 we have “the God of Amen” understood in the LXX as “the God of truth” ( ). Here applied to Christ. See 1:5 for (the faithful witness) and 3:7 for (the genuine), “whose testimony never falls short of the truth” (Swete).
The beginning of the creation of God ( ). Not the first of creatures as the Arians held and Unitarians do now, but the originating source of creation through whom God works (Col 1:15; Col 1:18, a passage probably known to the Laodiceans, John 1:3; Heb 1:2, as is made clear by Rev 1:18; Rev 2:8; Rev 3:21; Rev 5:13).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Of the Laodiceans [] . Read ejn Aaodikeia in Laodicea. Laodicea means justice of the people. As Laodice was a common name among the ladies of the royal house of the Seleucidae, the name was given to several cities in Syria and Asia Minor. The one here addressed was on the confines of Phrygia and Lydia, about forty miles east of Ephesus, and was known as Laodicea on the Lycus. It had born successively the names of Diospolis and Rhoas, and was named Laodicea when refounded by Antiochus Theos, B. C. 261 – 246. It was situated on a group of hills between two tributaries of the Lycus – the Asopus and the Caprus. Towards the end of the Roman Republic, and under the first emperors, it became one of the most important and flourishing cities of Asia Minor. One of its citizens, Hiero, bequeathed all his enormous property to the people, and adorned the city with costly gifts. It was the seat of large money transactions and of an extensive trade in wood. The citizens developed a taste for Greek art, and were distinguished in science and literature. Laodicea was the seat of a great medical school. During the Roman period it was the chief city of a Roman conventus or political district, in which courts were held by the proconsul of the province, and where the taxes from the subordinate towns were collected. Cicero held his court there, and many of his letters were written thence. The conventus represented by Laodicea comprised not less than twenty – five towns, and inscriptions refer to the city as “the metropolis.” The Greek word dioikhdiv, corresponding to the Latin conventus was subsequently applied to an ecclesiastical district, and appears in diocese. The tutelary deity of the city was Zeus (Jupiter). Hence its earlier name, Diospolis, or City of Zeus. Many of its inhabitants were Jews. It was subject to frequent earthquakes, which eventually resulted in its abandonment. It is now a deserted place, but its ruins indicate by their magnitude its former importance. Among these are a racecourse, and three theatres, one of which is four hundred and fifty feet in diameter. An important church council was held there in the fourth century.
The Amen. Used only here as a proper name. See Isa 65:16, where the correct rendering is the God of the Amen, instead of A. V. God of truth. The term applied to the Lord signifies that He Himself is the fulfilment of all that God has spoken to the churches.
Faithful [] . The word occurs in the New Testament in two senses : trusty, faithful Mt 24:45; Mt 25:21, 23; Luk 12:42); and believing, confiding (Joh 20:27; Gal 3:9; Act 16:1). Of God, necessarily only in the former sense.
True [] . See on verse 7. The veracity of Christ is thus asserted in the word faithful, true being not true as distinguished from false, but true to the normal idea of a witness.
The beginning [ ] . The beginner, or author; not as Col 1:15, the first and most excellent creature of God ‘s hands.
“The stress laid in the Epistle to the Colossians on the inferiority of those to whom the self – same name of ajrcai, beginnings principalities was given… to the One who was the true beginning, or, if we might venture on an unfamiliar use of a familiar word, the true Principality of God ‘s creation, may account for the prominence which the name had gained, and therefore for its use here in a message addressed to a church exposed, like that of Colossae, to the risks of angelolatry, of the substitution of lower principalities and created mediators for Him who was the Head over all things to His Church” (Plumptre). Compare Heb 12:2, ajrchgon leader.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE MESSAGE TO THE LAODICEANS
1) “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,” (kai to angelo tes en Laodikeia ekklesias grapson) “And to the messenger (or pastor) of the church in Laodicea write” a church had been in Laodicea at least from about 60 A.D. Col 4:1.
2) “These things saith the Amen,” (tade legei ho amen) “These things says the Amen,” the “true one”, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, or the Ruler of Kings of the earth, Rev 1:5. This true one guarantees the truth of all his statements and fulfillment of all his promises, 2Co 1:20.
3) “The faithful and true witness,” (ho martue hopistos kai alethinos) “The witness (who is) faithful and true; who never exaggerates or suppresses truth and his veracity of trustworthiness extend not only to the contents of his testimony but also to his moral character, Rev 3:20-21.
4) “The beginning of the creation of God,” (he archetes ktiseos tou theou) “The chief or the architect of the creation of God,” or the architect of the trinity of the Godhead in creation said these things contained in this Laodiciean Letter, Joh 1:1-3; 1Co 8:6; Col 1:16-17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA
Rev 3:14-22
WE come this morning to the study of the Epistle to the Church at Laodicea. The word, as you know, is derived from two root-words meaning judgment and people, and looks to a democracy as dangerous to the cause of Christ as were the ecclesiastical potentates of the Thyatiran age. The majority rule is only good when the majority is right with God. And, sad to say, the people of this church present absolutely nothing that God finds occasion to commend, unless it be the few suffering ones whom Christ loves and chastens.
The period of which this Epistle is prophetic is the end of this age, for as we shall see before we have finished, Laodiceanism, when it is fully ripe, will insure the Lords Second Appearance, that coming which is to be without sin unto salvation. Christs definition of the Church to come is at decided variance from that pictured by the philosophers of the present time. One of the favorite themes of the last decade has been the Church of the Twentieth Century, and with few exceptions, Christian orators have given their auditors a glowing picture holding up before them the promise of an institution such as the world has never seen pure in character, powerful through the energy of the Spirit, progressive to the point of victory, in fact, a church which would usher in the Millennium in the Masters absence, and effect an answer to the prayer put up by the saints of the nineteen centuries, Thy Kingdom come, without any assistance whatever from the King, either in the establishment of His throne or in the swaying of the scepter of power, other than that which might be imparted to them by the Spirit.
And, this picture is put before the people in all honesty, notwithstanding the lack of warrant from the Word; put before them in all good confidence, despite the declination that has come to the power of the Church at so many points, and the accessions which modern life has made to the working forces of Satan. I am an optimist as you shall see before I finish this days discourse, but my optimism rests in the plain promises of God, in that prophecy which is the mold of history, and not in the philosophy which the Church has received from the world, a philosophy which leads men to say all is well when so much is wrong; to declare the noontide before the Bright and Morning Star rises and the shadows flee away.
The shadows are yet to come and this Laodicean age is the picture of them, and I want us to look into this age this morning, no more discomfited or discouraged by its darkness, than the sailor is discouraged by the darkness of the hour before the dawn.
Three things are plainly put in this Epistle,
LAODICEANISM IS CHARACTERIZED BY LUKEWARMNESS
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 * * So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.
The Church of the future will not be an idle church. There was never so much activity in the Church as now. Great business corporations do not equal it for organization, and the modern factory hardly exhibits so many cogs and wheels. Has it ever occurred to you to compare the Twentieth Century Church, as we see it today, in the multitude of its operations, with the old first Church at Jerusalem in the simplicity of her methods. The latter was born under the hand of an evangelist and had a membership of thousands before even the necessity of the Diaconate was felt; and, although immediately following the appointment of those seven brethren some 5, 000 more accepted Christ, doubtless there were no committees, no sub-committees, not even a Sunday School Superintendent, nor yet a Board of Trustees. That Church would be regarded poorly organized if it was put down at one of our present-day annual meetings, and asked to make a report, and yet, though its activities did not appear in the forms of officials, committee-men and all conceivable institutional methods, still it did roll up a report on souls saved, accessions made to the church, and missionary work accomplished in other fields, that would make the mightiest Christian organization of any modern metropolis ashamed of itself. It is one thing to work. It is another thing to be worked of God. It is one thing to attempt much of yourself, it is another thing to be used for something by the Holy Spirit. Observation, when intelligently made, agrees with prophecy in giving us the promise of a Church for the future which shall have its works, but they will be too largely attempted in the energy of the flesh, and consequently Christ will say of them,
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot * *
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.
The Church to come will seek to suppress enthusiasm. One reason why I hope that we are already well along in the Laodicean age is in the circumstance of a growing opposition to enthusiasm. Fifty years ago our fathers rendered their services to God in a spirit of exuberance which is offensive now. Then, all over the house people nodded assent to the truth when it was spoken, and cried a hearty Amen to the faithful preaching of the Word. I have had in the past years three or four men of Godly character and warm heart who have dared to do the same, and I have listened to the bitterest complaints against them, and to demands that they be silenced. The presumption is that the church has become so cultured that anything approaching boisterousness is offensive to her excellent taste, while the truth is that she has become so cold that anything approaching enthusiasm is fire to her flesh. As Edward Moore says, Moderation was the favorite maxim in the Laodicean Church, and in the adoption of that maxim it meets the pleasure of the world, for, as the same writer further remarks, The world hates a glowing religion. It is all very well, they quite admit to be enthusiastic at a boat-race, or at an election, or even in the pursuit of art, but in religion; in the treatment of the deepest concerns which can occupy a soul, there must be no feeling, no stirring of the emotion, no kindling of zeal. The moment you betray any such emotion you are in danger of excitement and are carrying things too far.
But we ought to remember what Jesus Christ Himself said touching this matter, that a lukewarm religion was as distasteful to Him, as warm water is nauseating. Better be dead and cold utterly than half alive and half dead, for the latter is liable to land one, and liable to land the Church, in the conceit that it is accepted of Christ.
The second thing plainly put into this Epistle is this,
LAODICEANISM IS ASSOCIATED WITH OUTWARD SUCCESS
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,
The Church of the future will plead no poverty. I have been profoundly impressed, as you must have been, with the fact that the present Church is not pleading poverty. Almost every man I meet, when I talk with him with reference to the church of which he is a member, or over which he presides as pastor, makes occasion, in the course of the conversation, to mention their well-to-do men and women. The names of such are oftenest called, and their contributions to the cause of Christ much paraded.
You have heard the story, have you not? of how Thomas Aquinas, in a great cathedral, saw the priest counting the money of an offering, and addressing aQuinas he said, Brother Thomas, the Church can no longer say, as Peter expressed himself to the man asking alms, Silver and gold have I none, for you see she has become rich. Nor, replied Thomas, can she longer say, as Peter said to that same lame man, In the Name of Jesus Christ * * rise up and walk.
In Ernest Gordons Biography of his father, he quotes this from the pen of that matchless pastor and teacher, Dr. McGlynn told the exact truth when he recently declared the corruption of the church traceable to two thingsRoman gold and Roman purple. As fast as the Church became a coffer for hoarding coveted wealth she became a coffin for enshrining a dead Christianity. And today the scandal of Christendom is exhibited to our gaze in a pope claiming to be the true and only Vicar of Christ, living in a palace with six hundred attendants, and enjoying a personal income of a million and a half annually. * * I say all this not to cast gratuitous contempt on Rome, but to bring a solemn warning to America. That eight billions of hoarded money constitutes a tremendous danger. I cannot see how the church can keep hold of it and be able, at the same time, to take hold of the million hands of poverty and illiteracy and spiritual destitution which are stretched out for help.
The success of the future Church will induce self-content. When rich and increased with goods it will regard itself as in need of nothing.
A few years since I was holding a meeting in a certain city where one of its most prominent churches was pastorless. The committee was corresponding with a young man in another city with reference to becoming the undershepherd of this flock. He wrote asking what inducements they could offer favoring his removal. The chairman of the committee replied, setting forth the beauty of their building, the excellence of its location, the great audiences accustomed to assemble in it, the wealth in the membership, etc. When the young pastor read the letter, he wrote back saying, Have you the Holy Ghost? And the chairman was honest enough to answer, We have everything else; but not the Holy Ghost in this place. And the young man was wise enough to remain in his old place. Do you remember what Ephraim said? I dont know where you can find an expression of self-satisfaction that surpasses it, nor where the inspired writer has so explicitly exposed the secret of that content, as in the report of Ephraims words, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin (Hos 12:8). And yet, at that very time Ephraim was both deceiving and being deceived. He was only another Pharisee standing up and praying with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are * *. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess, etc. You know that mans good works did not justify him, and God, who is love, could not do so, because he had justified himself and rejected God. When that spirit permeates the Church as it has permeated it, and as it is permeating it, and as it will more and more permeate it, it puts the Church in the way of its own blessing, which is an empty word, and out of the way of Gods blessing which is a dire need.
The outward success of the future Church will only serve to cover over the direst spiritual destitution. Christ declared of the Laodiceans of that past time, and equally of the Laodiceans of the time to come, that though rich and increased in goods, and in need of nothing, so far as material comforts were concerned, they were yet wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, without being conscious of their estate. Oh, the depths of poverty unto which a man comes, the depths of misery and wretchedness, the unbelievable blindness that takes hold upon him, the shameful nakedness that characterizes him, when he has starved his soulimpoverishing it, imposing blindness upon it, that through its sacrifice the life that now is in the flesh might be the better fed, the more adorned and honored. The one revelation of the future that will dash to ground false hopes and bring men and churches to sorrow will be the revelation of spiritual poverty, and the revelation of the unwise estimate set upon temporal gain.
Webb-Peploe tells a story that illustrates my meaning. He speaks of a girl who was kept for seven years in bondage, with no rest or peace of soul, though she was an earnest Christian, simply because she had inherited what appeared to be a beautiful jewel. It was a great attraction to her to observe the way in which people looked at this pendant when she wore it. Remember, we do not forbid the wearing of jewelry, if God does not forbid it. We are not commissioned to say that you may not go to your favorite amusements, and that you may not wear pendants upon your neck, unless God shows you that they are not for His glory. You must settle that with your God. Only take care that your decision is made in Gods sight. What we plead for is principle. For seven years that girl felt that that simple ornament was interfering with her whole-hearted service of God; and yet she would not give it up. It was a mere trifle, but it spoiled her peace. I have seen people in a solemn convocation of Christians turning their rings, and waiting to see the flash of light reflected from them. Surely, in such cases, even a simple ornament is a snare! That girl for seven years went through spiritual bondage because she would not give up one little thing; and she had no rest because there was a controversy between her and her God! Her soul was enslaved just as Lots was in Sodom. At last she went to a jeweler and said, I want you to take this and value it for me. He said he would tell her its worth on the morrow. She could not sleep that night for distress. The next day she came back and said to the jeweler, Well, what is it worth? He said, It looks pretty, but I am sorry to tell you it is all sham. I can give you seven shillings for it. And that is a perfect illustration of the real value of the very things that men and women are valuing most highly. They are shams, without intrinsic worth, simply calculated to deceive, to distress and destroy. If you want adornment, listen to God who says,
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, mid that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
The third thing plainly put in this Epistle is this, Laodiceanism is
THE PRECURSER OF OUR LORDS SECOND APPEARANCE
After having pictured this Church and through it prophesied the end of the age, He says,
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 wilt sup with him, and he with Me.
If then the Laodicean age is on, Christ impatiently waits just without.
You are familiar with Holman Hunts picture, the subject of which is this text. It represents Jesus outside the closed door; the hinges of this door are rusty, indicating how long it has been locked against Him; vines have grown up, and clinging by the wall have crossed it. The Son of Man stands there rapping and waiting to enter. His face worn with the anxiety He feels, and His locks wet with the dew of the night. Beloved, has it ever occurred to you that it depends upon man to swing that door back and let the Lord in. And, has it ever occurred to you that all within must remain dark until He comes and shines the darkness away forever. And, has it ever occurred to you that this is actually the door to the Church, and not, as has been the common interpretation, the door to the individual heart. And, has it ever occurred to you that He will not come in until the man of the church, weary of its darkness and worn with the prolongation of night, cries out, Come in, Lord Jesus, and come quickly! That cry has been faintly raised already. Thank God, it has been increasing these last ten or fifteen years. Thank God, it is reaching up Heavenward today. I think it must be filling His ear, and I hope that He will not much longer delay.
When the Church admits Him, He will come to His throne. That is what He means by the text which follows, 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! Have you never noted what the Revised Version says on this text, As I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne. A few years since when studying this Scripture from the Old Version, I read this 21st verse, and I said at once, it ought not so to read. 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, because when Christ comes to His throne on earth, He will of necessity leave the Fathers throne in Heaven, and so ought to speak of that then as a thing of the past. Turning to the Revised Version, I saw that it was so, as I sat down with My Father in His Throne. But, oh, beloved, He pictures Himself as having quit that and as having come to His own throne. I cannot help wondering how long it will be before He fulfils this promise. I think I understand why John closed the Canon of sacred Scripture by saying, Come, Lord Jesus, for His coming lifts the darkness. He is the Bright and Morning Star to end the night. He is the Sun of Righteousness to dispel every shadow. He is the King of Glory on whose banners victory must perch, before whose face Satan must fall, and in whose reign righteousness will obtain; and, because I love the Church of God, I long to see her sharing with her King His scepter and throne.
That was a beautiful illustration of the thought that Dr. Mabie employed in his address before the first convention of the B. Y. P. U. when he said, On the third of July, 1866, the battle of Sadowa was fought. In the morning Von Moltke said to King William, Today, your majesty, we shall win not only the battle, but the campaign. It didnt look like it at noon of that day. Prince Frederick Charles corps was withering under the hottest artillery fire of this century, except, perhaps that of Gettysburg. But hark! what means these lusty cheers to the left? How cannons boom and the Austrian fire slackens. Ah, Von Moltke knows what it means; the Crown Prince has arrived with his fresh corps which enfilades the whole Austrian line. He has stormed the height of Chlum. Benedek is beaten! On, on to Vienna, the war is ended! So let us remember, friends, that on every mission field, whether at home or abroad, when Christ, the Crown Prince, with fresh forces right from Heaven has arrived, even with reproduction of Himself, let us remember that victory is before us; and therefore neither hesitate ourselves to go, nor cheer others to go to the high places of the field, expecting that complete conquest will be ours.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Rev. 3:14. Laodiceans.The city of Laodicea was situated on the banks of the Lycus, near Hierapolis and Coloss. Archippus was possibly the angel of this Church, in the sense of being its chief pastor. Laodicea received its name from Laodice, wife of Antiochus, the second King of Syria, by whom it was re-built and beautified. Amen.Here only used as a personal name. Faithful.In the sense of trustworthy (see Rev. 1:5). Trench suggests the three things necessary to constitute a true witness. He must have been an eye-witness of what he relates, possess competence to relate what he has seen, and be willing to do so. But the assertion is here made in view of the severity of the message sent to this Church. However searching and severe, it is assuredly faithful and true. Beginning of the creation.See Col. 1:15. This may mean, the first of a new spiritual creation, or the Author of creationthe material world being conceived of as due to the agency of the Divine Son; or the first created being; or the beginning (in the active sense) of the creation; i.e., the Creator of all thingsprimary source of all creation. The appropriateness of this declaration concerning Christ comes to view as we realise the special temptations of this Church to the worship of inferior divinities. Like Coloss, this Church was exposed to the risks of angelolatry, of the substitution of lower principalities and created mediators for Him who was head over all things to His Church.
Rev. 3:15. Cold nor hot.Plumptre suggests that it was specially exposed to the chilling and enervating influence of wealth. To passionate and intense natures there is nothing so irritating as the superior man who can always keep the happy medium, and never gets excited about anything. Wealthy people are especially tempted to take things easy, to take even their religion easy. The term hot denotes the temper of fervent love, a love that warms and animates the whole life, the temper, we must remember, of the apostle who records the message. The term cold simply implies the absence of enthusiasm. The tepid temperature has, as its physical effect, the sickening sense of nausea, and in its moral aspect causes, in most earnest minds, a loathing that is not roused by the state described as cold.
Rev. 3:17. Sayest.In a spirit of blind self-confidence. Rich.Lit. I am rich, and have gotten riches. The repetition implies satisfaction in the riches (Hos. 12:8). Wretched.The worst kind of hypocriteshypocrites without knowing it. There is no more subtle peril than self-deception concerning our spiritual conditionthe self-deception that comes of self-confidence.
Rev. 3:18. Buy of me.There is perhaps a touch of irony here. Gold tried.Lit. fresh burnt from the fire. Eye-salve.Collyrium was the common dressing for weak eyes.
Rev. 3:19. Rebuke and chasten.See Pro. 3:11; Heb. 12:5. Zealous.Implying rousing themselves out of their careless, lukewarm temper.
Rev. 3:20. Stand at the door.Compare Son. 5:2.
Rev. 3:21. My throne. His throne.Both to be treated as figures. The promise of sharing the throne is the climax of an ascending series of glorious promises, which carry the thought from the Garden of Eden (chap Rev. 2:7) through the wilderness (Rev. 3:17), the temple, (Rev. 3:12) to the throne. The conquerors in the strife are, in some sense which we cannot as yet fathom, made partakers of the Divine Nature (2Pe. 1:4)sharers in the holiness, the wisdom, the love, and therefore in the glory and the majesty, which have been from everlasting.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rev. 3:14-22
A Self-Satisfied Church.The city of Laodicea was situated between Philadelphia and Coloss. It was either actually founded, or re-built, by Antiochus II., the King of Syria, and named after his wife, Laodc. In St. Johns day it was celebrated for its wealth, which was derived chiefly from commerce. In the interest of the apostle Paul, the Church in Laodicea was associated with the Church in Colosse. Neither of those Churches, however, seem to have enjoyed his personal ministry, for writing to the Colossians he says, For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. (Col. 2:1). He refers to an earnest Christian work which one of His disciples, Epaphras, had done in Laodicea and the neighbouring towns, and the form in which he sends his message to Archippus suggests that this person was the angel, or minister, of the Church at Laodicea (Col. 4:12-17). The tone of St. Pauls references indicate considerable anxiety concerning the spiritual condition of the Church, and we can well understand that, under the enervating influence of increasing wealth, the evils that he noticed and feared grew into perilous strength in the latter days of St. John, and gave occasion to the most cutting and reproachful of the seven epistles. The key-note to the moral condition of this Church is found in its wealth. It was not disturbed by heresies, or broken up by persecutions. Its members were in comfortable circumstances. The services could be maintained without strain, there was nobody in the Church of a contentious disposition to disturb the peace, so they had drifted into an easy going way, and satisfied themselves with simply keeping things up to a fair average level. Their full strength went into their weekly money-getting, and they got through their Sabbath obligations and duties as respectably and as easily as they could. It would be very possible to find an instance of just such a Church in these days of ours; for Laodicea is a type, and a type as distinct as either of the others to which attention has been drawn. It is full of suggestion to us that the Living Christ, moving to and fro among the Churches, is arrested by the actual condition of this apparently prosperous Church. It reminds us that He who has the seven Spirits of God is never deceived by the appearance of prosperity in a Church, but searchingly estimates its tone, and mood, and temper, and may thus discover and reveal a condition of things which will altogether surprise the members of the Church, who may expect commendation, and have to receive severe reproaches and warnings. We have seen that some particular feature of the vision of the Risen and Living One is taken, in order to point the application to each Church. Here He who walketh among the candlesticks is figured as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Amen is not elsewhere used as a personal name. It means, verily, and is the firm assertion that a thing is true, and so it can be made a proper name, and stand for Him who is the truth. The word the Living One had to speak to this Church would surprise and humiliate it. And the very first response that the Church would make, when it received the message, would be this: It is not true; it cannot be true. The very possibility of such a response must be anticipated, and guarded against, so the epistle begins with the solemn declaration that it comes from Him who is the absolute and indisputable truth, the Amen, the faithful and true witness. Dean Plumptre thinks that the words faithful and true witness should be regarded simply as the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word amen. It affirms the competency of the Living One to make this testimony, seeing that He combines in Himself all those qualifications which a witness ought to possess. The other form in which the Living One is presented is more difficult to explain. The beginning of the creation of God. It is probably the solemn assertion of His absolute and perfect knowledge of all things, from the very beginning. From Him nothing is hid. Effort has been made to explain this term by comparing it with the figures found in the epistle to the ColossiansFirst-born of every creature, first-born from the deadand by assuming that the Laodicean Church was exposed to the temptation of worshipping inferior principalities. But this is to bring in a set of new ideas, unrelated to the point of the Divine message. He who is truth, sees truly, and witnesses truly, has something to say to which this Church is bound to give good heed, however it may surprise and distress them.
I. And what is the message?
1. It is a searching revelation of the Churchs unrecognised weaknesses. And the first thing noticed is its listless indifference. It was lukewarm about everything. It was dying, as Churches can die, of moderation and respectability. It might, in its apparently sound and safe prosperity, be the envy of other Churches. Its very evenness, its persistently keeping at a dead level, was a supreme offence to Christ. Nobody in the Church brought any disgrace upon the Christian name, but nobody brought any particular honour upon the Christian name. The Church did not make the holy and inspiring witness of consistency in keeping at a high level of Christian attainment and service. It was simply easyful, indifferent, content to go on, aiming at nothing and doing nothing. The lukewarm are neither earnest for God, nor utterly indifferent to religion. They are perhaps best described as those who take an interest in religion, but whose worship of their idol of good taste, or good form, leads them to regard enthusiasm as ill-bred and disturbing; and who have never put themselves to any inconvenience, braved any reproach, or abandoned any comfort, for Christs sake, but hoped to keep well with the world, while they flattered themselves that they stood well with God. Such a state of lukewarmness is unreal and sickly, and yet thinks that it is a true and healthy state. Carlyle calls it the hypocrisy which does not know itself to be hypocritical.
2. But the Living Christ, in searching this Church, does not stop even with thus showing the fact of its condition. He reveals the root of the evil, in the spirit of self-satisfaction which has gained power in the Church, and has eaten out its heart of love and zeal for Christ. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing. Dean Plumptre says: The underlying grounds of the condemnation, the secret working of this tepidity of the soul, are brought before us in these words. It is clear that the imagined wealth here is that of spiritual, not temporal, riches. In regard to the latter, the boast would probably have been true, and would have called for no such stern contrast. And yet it is not the less true that it was the possession of the riches of this world that made the Laodicean angel and his Church so satisfied that they had the riches of the other. They took the unrighteous mammon, not only as a substitute for the true riches, but almost as a proof that they possessed them. Outward ease and comfort took the place of inward peace; prosperity was thought a sure sign of Divine approval. We cannot read the history of the Church of Christ, or look around us, or retrace our own experience, without feeling that it has often been so, both with Churches and individual men. Lethargy creeps over them; love is no longer active; material success, multiplied endowments, the power of giving money as the one embodiment of love to God or manthese have been the precursors of decline and of decay. The man who is in a comfortable and well-satisfied frame of mind, because all his material wants are thoroughly provided for, can seldom be brought to believe that his spiritual state can possibly be wrong. And it is precisely the same with a Church that experiences years of steady and unbroken prosperity; it becomes so hopelessly satisfied with its spiritual state, that it resents even the searching appeals of the ever-living Head of the Church. And there is no condition for the individual and for the Church so dangerous as that self-satisfied frame of mind. In spiritual things it has need of nothing. Its spiritual state is quite satisfactory to itself, and unless that self-satisfaction can be broken up, and the truth of its spiritual condition revealed to it, that self-satisfaction will surely bring its doom.
3. With an almost withering severity, the Living Christ declares that the self-satisfaction the Church was nourishing as to its spiritual state was but a sign of its moral blindness. If they could see facts, they would see that, as a Church, they were poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. They were not even, as they assumed, keeping to a fair spiritual level. They had sunk low: they had lost tone. They thought themselves rich, but where were their spiritual riches? Could they show them when called upon to do so? Where were their spiritual garments? Could they appear clothed in them when called upon to do so? The Living Christ suddenly calls upon them to bring forth the signs of their spiritual life. They can find none, and now their blindness is forcibly removed, and they are compelled to appear before Him as they are, and to see themselves as they are, poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. What a humiliation! The sin of this Church came out of its being too comfortable. It was not serious enough about anything. And this is often the secret of self-centredness. It satisfies a man with his narrow circle of interestswhich, like the famous chamber-prison of fable, is ever narrowing and narrowing, until at last it crushes all life worth living out of the man.
II. And what is the advice given by the Risen and Living Lord?I counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. Precisely the work for the sake of which the Living Christ is ever moving among the Churches is the rehabilitation of the spiritual life of the Churches. The condition of this Church was bad, but it was not hopeless. Something could be done. Provision for the recovery of position, and health, and spiritual tone, were at command. That provision can be supplied only by the Churchs awaking from her lethargy, beginning really to care for its spiritual condition, mourning over the condition into which it had allowed itself to drift, and making fresh, direct, personal applications to her Lord for reviving and restoring grace. In his Holy War Bunyan pictures Mansoul awakened to recognise the Laodicean state into which it had fallen, filled with zealous anxiety, and sending messengers, with pleading entreaties, to her absent Emmanuel. Buy of Me, as only we can buy of Christ; with penitence, and zeal, and prayer, and holy yearnings, but without money and without price. The gold which Christ will thus sell to him who seeks itthe treasure of holiness, and peace, and joyis that which has been tried in the fire; and this, as in all like cases, implies chastisement and suffering. The white garments that hide the shame of nakedness, the true holiness of life which alone prevents the exposure of that inner vileness of which even the saints of God are ever painfully conscious, are those which have been made white in the blood of Christ, which symbolises suffering. The eye-salve which gives clearness of vision, does so, not without the pricking smart that clears away the blinding or beclouding humours. And the counsel is urged by this gracious persuasion; the Living One who rebukes them, loves them, and rebukes them because He loves them. For love can never let sin alone when it finds sin in the objects of its love. And the love that rebukes will not stop with rebuke; it will go on to chastening, it will be followed by discipline that may secure full deliverance from the sin. The very familiar Rev. 3:20 receives its proper explanation only by observing its insertion at this precise point of the epistle. It is usual to sever it entirely from its connection, and to regard it a figure of Christs seeking admission to the human heart. And that may be justifiable, but it was not in the mind of this writer, nor does it bear direct relation to the subject of this epistle. In Holman Hunts suggestive picture, The Light of the World is represented as an august person, artistically and symbolically arrayed, standing with a lamp in his hands under a midnight sky, on the outside of a walled enclosure, the entrance-gate of which is barred. He stands as one who has knocked over and over again, and received no answer; and you observe that the wild vine and bramble have grown over the gate, showing how long and resolutely it has been closed. But in this epistle the Christ is the Living White One standing at the door of a Church. He has come to deliver His searching and arousing rebukes. He stands, as it were, outside to deliver His rebuke; and now He waitsstands at the door and knockswaits to see if the Church will respond aright, and give Him welcome to do His cleansing and reviving work. He will not at once begin His chastenings. They must come if the Church does not fittingly respond to reproof and rebuke. But He will waithopefully wait. Judgment is His strange work, mercy is His delight. He would so much rather work the recovery of the Church with its will than against it. But there is a very remarkable change in the appeal of Christ as He stands waiting. His rebuke and counsel had been sent to the Church. His appeal is directly addressed to each and every individual member of the Church. 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. The responsibility of rightly answering the reproof of Christ is made to rest on each single person. It could easily be shifted off, and made to appear the general duty of the Church. Christ demands that it shall be the direct answer of each man. The recovery of a lethargic and lukewarm Church is the recovery of its individuals, one by one. The promise to the overcoming soul and overcoming Church is the full enjoyment of the highest spiritual privilege, the privilege that can only be enjoyed by the most spiritually-minded. I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne; as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev. 3:14. Laodicea.A Church of which the state is described in the darkest colours, and whose future seems to be compromised. She is threatened with immediate rejectionSpue thee out of My mouth. There is here mote than an expression of indignation; it is one of disgust. Laodicea has fallen as low as a Church can fall, while still bearing the name of a Church.F. Godet, D.D.
Rev. 3:15. Hot.The heat commended by implication is not the self-conscious, galvanised earnestness which, in days of senile pietism, passes for zeal. It is an earnestness which does not know itself earnest, being all too absorbed in its work. It is self-forgetful, and so self-sacrificing, rather than ambitious of self-sacrifice. It is, in short, kindled of God, and sustained by converse with the Divine One.Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
Rev. 3:17. Self-deception.Why should a man repent of his goodness? He may well repent, indeed, of his falsehood, but unhappily the falsehood of it is just the thing he does not see, and cannot see by the very law of his character. The Pharisee did not know he was a Pharisee. If he had known it he would not have been a Pharisee. The victim of passion, then, may be convertedthe gay, the thoughtless, or the ambitious; he whom human glory has intoxicated; he whom the show of life has ensnared; he whom the pleasures of sense have captivated;they may be converted, every one of them; but who is to convert the hypocrite? He does not know he is a hypocrite; he cannot, upon the very basis of his character; he must think himself sincere; and the more he is in the shackles of his own character, i.e., the greater hypocrite he is, the more sincere must he think himself.Mozley.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Rev. 3:14. Laodicea.This city was originally called Diospolis, and afterwards Rhoas. It was re-built and beautified by Antiochus II., King of Syria, and named after his wife Laodic, by whom he was subsequently poisoned. In Roman times it was a very principal city among those of the second rank in Asia Minor. It suffered in the Mithridatic war, but ere long recovered; it was also well-nigh destroyed by a great earthquake, A.D. 62, but was repaired by the efforts of its own citizens, who asked no help from the Roman Senate. Laodicea was in Southern Phrygia, called Phrygia Pacatiana, not far from Coloss, and about six miles south of Hierapolis. It was distinguished from other cities of the same name by being termed Laodicea on the Lycus. Its commerce was considerable, being principally in the wools grown in the neighbouring district, which were celebrated for their fine texture and rich hue. A village, called Eski-hissar, stands amidst its ruins.
Rev. 3:19. Gods Love in Affliction.It is rerelated that a poor but worthy inhabitant of Paris once went to the bishop of the place, with a countenance beclouded and a heart almost overwhelmed. Father, said he, with the most profound humility, I am a sinnerI feel that I am a sinnerbut it is against my will. Every hour I ask for light, and humbly pray for faith, but still I am overwhelmed with doubts. Surely if I were not despised of God He would not leave me to struggle thus with the adversary of souls! The bishop thus consoled, with the language of kindness, his sorrowing son: The king of France has two castles in different situations, and sends a commander to each of them. The castle of Montelberry stands in a place remote from danger, far inland; but the castle of La Rochelle is on the coast, where it is liable to continual sieges. Now, which of the two commanders, think you, stands the highest in the estimation of the king: the commander of La Rochelle, or he of Montelberry? Doubtless, said the poor man, the king values him the most who has the hardest task, and braves the greatest dangers. Thou art right, replied the bishop. And now apply this matter to thy case and mine, for my heart is like the castle of Monielberry, and thine like that of La Rochelle.
Rev. 3:20. Christ at the Door.The love of Christ has to come to sinful men with patient pleading and remonstrance, that it may enter their hearts and give its blessings. Some of you may remember a modern work of art in which that long-suffering appeal is wonderfully portrayed. He who is the Light of the world stands, girded with the royal mantle clasped with the priestly breast-plate, bearing in his hand the lamp of truth, and there, amidst the dew of night and the rank hemlock, He pleads for entrance at the closed door which has no handle on its outer side, and is hinged to open only from within. I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I will come in.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Knocking at Doors.The gates of the rich and the doors of the caravanserais and other large buildings have a knocker made of a bent bar of iron hung by a hinge, so as to strike upon a broad-headed nail. Otherwise there is always a ring set in the door, by which it is pulled to, and this is used as a knocker by striking it against the door with the open palm. Officers of justice rap on the doors with the ends of their staves of office, and some people, impatient of delay, try to make more noise by striking the door with a stone. The sleep of Orientals is proverbially heavy, and loud and repeated knockings at doors are sometimes heard at the dead of night, accompanied by the reiterated shouts of some belated traveller.Van Lennep.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Strauss Comments
SECTION 10
Text Rev. 3:14-22
14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 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. 21 He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Initial Questions Rev. 3:14-22
1.
With respect to the Christian life is neutrality possible Rev. 3:15?
2.
Is a lukewarm Christian life satisfactory to Christ Rev. 3:16?
3.
Is there ever a stage of Christian maturation where the Christian need not or cannot develop beyond Rev. 3:17?
4.
Is there any sarcasm apparent in Rev. 3:18?
5.
Does God really chasten or test those whom He loves? How?
6.
Is every individual responsible before Gods Word Rev. 3:20?
7.
Does Rev. 3:20 relate to us how vital, wonderful, and close our relationship with Christ will be?
The Church in Laodicea
Chp. Rev. 3:14-22
The name of this city means justice of the people. The congregation in this city attempted the impossible they tried to be neutral with respect to their Christian commitment. Laodicea was generally condemned, but it was not a hopeless situation. They were helpless but not hopeless!
Much of the imagery in this section of scriptures comes from the surrounding country-side, i.e., hot springs, the salve to anoint your eyes, etc. There was a great medical school there. They indeed hath need of a Divine Physician.
Laodicea was situated about 40 miles S.E. of Philadelphia. (See Sir William Ramsey, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, Nothing better available!) The only new title for Christ found in this verse is the origin or source of the creation of God. See appendix immediately after chp. 3 for a brief discussion of the crass distortion this title receives at the hands of The Jehovahs Witnesses Cult.
Rev. 3:15
Christ again asserts first hand knowledge of the spiritual condition of the Church in Laodicea. He charges that they are neither (oute) cold (psuchros) nor hot (zestos boiling). They were attempting the deadly compromise! There can be no real commitment to Jesus Christ and be liturgically cold at the same time. A. T. Robertson says that there is no real Christianity without enthusiasm. Christ must mean more to us than the valid conclusion of polenical arguments. There must be the delicate balance between heart and head. Christ said that I would that you were cold or hot; one or the other but not lukewarmness. This message is still a warning to individuals and congregations alike. Being tepid (lukewarm) and a Christian is a contradiction in terms.
Christ does not actually declare that He is going to vomit them out; He asserts that He is mell or about (or might do it) to do it. The imagery is very clear tepid Christians do not set well with God.
Rev. 3:17
Here we begin to take note of a self-sufficient congregation. What do they need with God. It is alright to be a Christian, if it does not interfere with our daily lives. The Lord did not feel about them, as they felt about themselves. What did Christ actually think of them, Christ said you are the wretched one (talaipros miserable one) and pitiable (eleeinos used only one other place in N.T. 1Co. 15:19) it means an object of pity or a person (or thing) to be pitied, AND POOR (ptchos this term is used over 30 times in N.T. and expresses every degree of need and want) and blind and naked. This congregation thought of itself more highly than it had reason to so judge. Christ uses sarcasm in this verse. He had just shown them in the preceding verse their actual spiritual state was in radical contrast with the high opinion they had of themselves. Now, He begins to chide them! I counsel you (rather than commands) to buy from me gold having been refined by fire. This ironic challenge is like a sharp shaft to the spirit. These people, who claimed to have need of nothing are really in need of the truly valuable things of life. The remaining part of this verse is built on hina or purpose clauses. God in Christ counsels them to buy Gold from Him Why, In order that or for the purpose that you may be clothed and the shame of your nakedness may not be (publically) manifested. The imagery of this last clause fits nicely into the background of the city of Laodicea. One of the great medical schools of the day flourished there. And eye salve to anoint your eyes in order that or so that you may see. How would they have responded to this chain of ironic rebukes (Holy Sarcasm)? How would a contemporary congregation respond to preaching like this?
Rev. 3:19
As many as I love I rebuke (elegch put to the test) and I chasten (paideuo training or nurture, see also Heb. 12:6) be hot (zeleue sing. imper. pres. each individual is commanded to get hot and stay hot, or really be spiritually boiling) therefore and you repent (metanoson sing. 1st aor. imper. each one immediately repent) in an act of repentence.
Rev. 3:20
After this scorching denunciation of the Christians in Laodicea, the Lord begins His exhortation to His erring children. Look Here! I stand in front of the door and I knock; Christ not only knocks, but also speaks, so no one will be able to say that they never heard the voice of the master. The conditional clause if anyone hears . . . and opens, then I will enter to him and I will dine with him and he with me. The reciprocal relationship generated by a human response is clearly brought out by the repeated (meta with) proposition. It is not merely that we will have fellowship with Him, but He also with us.
Rev. 3:21
To the one who is continually victorious I will give him to set (kathisai aor. inf. to set down in a single act.) with me on my throne, as I also overcame (enikesa 1st aor. act. in one final act Christ overcame) His was no process of overcoming. We need not wait for the outcome; and sat with (meta reciprocal relation) my Father on His throne. The thundering voice of Christ must be heard again not merely among the seven Churches of Asia, but must be heard around the world. The one having an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.
Review Questions
1.
How do the Jehovahs Witnesses translate the title of Christ the source of origin of the creation of God, Rev. 3:14? (See appendix immediately following.)
2.
Do we show enough intelligent enthusiasm in our congregations?
3.
What can be done about tepid Christians in our congregations Rev. 3:16?
4.
How did Christ describe the Christians of Laodicea Rev. 3:17?
5.
What is the reason for Christs strong chiding in Rev. 3:18?
6.
Would your congregation like to hear this kind of preaching?
7.
Note the marked contrast between Christs rebuke and His sweet exhortation Rev. 3:20!
Special Study
The Christology of the Jehovahs Witnesses
We shall use the new translation of the New World Bible Translation Committee, which is the official work of the Jehovahs Witnesses, in our study of vital passages in the New Testament concerning Christ and the doctrine of Hell. This is an anonymous work and the J.W.s will not reveal names of those who did the translation. Our common ground in the discussion is the fact that they claim to believe that the Bible alone is their source of doctrine. Therefore whatever that Bible really says about the person of Christ and the reality of Hell is the divine standard for belief.
Many people (Unitarians, Jews, most contemporary Theologians) along with the J.W.s deny the deity of Christ and the reality of Hell, but not for the same reason. Any competent scholar knows what the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures have to say about both of these doctrines, but they are denied on grounds other than the statements of the Bible.
It is vital that we point out one more factor before we begin our examination of specific statements of the Bible relating to the two doctrines under considerationin the literature of the J.W.s one sees the names of competent Christian lexicographers, grammarians and exegetes used in defense of their strange manipulations of the Word of God, but we must remember that men such as A.T. Robertson, (S. Bapt. Greek Scholar and often quoted by J.W.s) believed the scripture taught both the deity of Christ and the reality of Hell. Our real concern is, what do the authors of the N.T. teach!
Doctrine of Christ
The J.W.s affirm that Jesus is the spirit-creature named Michael the first of Gods creation, and it was through him as secondary cause that God created all things. This view is clearly revealed in their New World Translation. This position was originally set forth by the Arian Heresy. The New Testament Doctrine of Christ stands in irreconcilable conflict with this presentation of the person of Christ.
Before we examine several specific passages from their translation we must say a word about their use of the term Jehovah. In their appendix on Jehovah (from page 759f) they list over two hundred times in the N.T. where they have inserted the name Jehovah into the text when it is not based on the Greek text. In the foreword they make an effort to show how the Greek text has been altered and that originally the term Jehovah appeared in the text. The serious fallacy in both their technical understanding and logic becomes apparent when it is pointed out that the best manuscript evidence put forward is a 14th century A.D. Hebrew text of Matthew.
Technically, the pronunciation of the tetragrammation is unknown (no one knows if Yahweh, etc., is correct or not). The term which appears in English as Jehovah or Yahweh could have come from two Hebrew roots, one meaning become, the other to happen. Dr. W. F. Albright and Dr. T. W. Nakarai, et al., illustrate the possible differences in translation by emending the Hebrew consonants with, for example, first simple active or fifth stem (causative) vowels. The vowels used in most popular translations of Jehovah or Yahweh (it is apparent that the vowels in these two words are different) are arbitrarily taken from the Hebrew word for lord Adonai. After the exile the name of God became so sacred that they did not pronounce it. The Hebrews reason if there is only one God then we do not need a name because names are for distinction. To this day the name Yhwh is unpronounced in the services of the Hebrew Synagogues, even when it appears in the Scripture text, or prayer book.
The Church has from the N.T. period to the 20th Century affirmed that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh and the final, complete revelation of the nature, purpose, and person and will of God of the O.T. The J.W.s deny this affirmation so let us turn to the Scriptures and hear their testimony.
One of the passages listed where Jehovah appears in the New World Translation is Mar. 1:3. At Mar. 1:2 (1901 R.V.) which is a quotation from Mal. 3:1, we note a change in the pronouns from the Hebrew of Mal. to the Greek of Mk. In the Hebrew of Mal. 3:1 God is speaking and says to prepare my way (or the way before me) and the pronoun is changed to refer to Christ (thy face) in Mar. 1:2. (1901 R.V.) Here we have a passage of scripture containing Yahweh and it is employed by an inspired author in referring to Jesus Christ.
The New World Translation of Act. 2:21 which is a quotation from Joe. 2:32anyone that calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
(For those who desire to study the passages critically the following data is essential. In the Hebrew text, chp. 2 runs to Rev 2:273:28 begins chp. 3, which contains 5 verses and the Hebrew Text contains chp. Rev. 3:1-21. The English Translation (R.V. 1901) places the 5 verses of chp. 3 with chp. 2 therefore in the English chp. 2 runs to Rev. 2:32. Chp. 3 of the Hebrew becomes the last vs. of chp. 2 of E.T. and Chp. 4 of Hebrew is Chp. 3 in E.T.)
In the Acts passage the reference is to Christ, but another passage uses the same quotation and is also unmistakenly applied to Christ Rom. 10:9-13. Here Christ is source of fulfilling the Joel passage. The total misunderstanding of the N.T. use of the term Lord is at the heart of the perversion in the N.W.T. The term Lord is unmistakably used for Yahweh and without hesitation the full import is applied to Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
In Joh. 1:1 of the N.W.T. we learn that Jesus is merely a god. It reads:
originally the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.
We must take note of their erroneous translation of a god because there is no definite article before the noun. Before we analyze this point we must remind the reader that John was a Jew who had been reared on strict Jewish Monotheism (belief in one God) and to speak of a god would have been nonsense and repugnant or idolatry. It would not be difficult to sustain, by many examples, Dr. Ernest C. Colwells rule of the definite article a definite predicate nominative has the article when it follows the verb. . . . The absence of the article before God (theos) of the last clause of Joh. 1:1 in no way permits the translation found in the New World Translation a god. Our standard English translation reads and the Word was God, but the literal translation of the statement would be and God was the Word. The appendix found in the N.W.T. in an effort to justify their distortion quotes thirty-five other passages in John where the predicate noun has the definite article in Greek. These examples provide poor evidence for their translation of a god, because all 35 examples show that the predicate noun stands after the verb. The examples quoted in N.W.T, from the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) merely sustain Colwells rule of the use of the Greek article or the meaning of its absence.
Another passage which is distorted by the N.W.T. is Php. 2:6-8 (Rev. 3:6 N.W.T.):
Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in Gods form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God.
This is such a perversion of the Greek text that only an extended statement on each word would be an adequate reply since space forbids this we shall comment upon two words from the context of Rev. 3:6-8. The word translated form in Rev. 3:6-7 is (morph). From Homer (classical literature) forward (morph) is used in an outward sense or appearance. Plato uses (eidos) in contrast to (morph) or intrinsic reality. This meaning is also present in N.T. Greek and this specific passage. In Rev. 3:7 we have a reflexive pronoun (heauton) which clearly states that He emptied not His attribute (as God) out of Himself, but Himself out of one form (God) into another form (slave or servant). It is essential to note the impact of this reflexive pronoun. He was not emptied by someone else; rather He emptied Himself. Even the Unitarian Lexicographer, Joseph Henry Thayer, who denied the deity of Christ, admitted that the Greek of this section of Scripture speaks of Christs deity. (See Thayers Lexicon, pg. 418 concerning Rev. 3:6
yet did not think that this equality with God was to be eagerly clung to or retained.
This is one time the J.W.s would not dare use the help of their Unitarian cohort, Thayer, as they do so often. Clearly the passage affirms the Deity of Christ as the Greek of Pauls Epistle stands in radical contrast to the English translation of this passage in the N.W.T., the official translation of the Jehovahs Witnesses.
Pauls statement in Col. 1:15-17 is another disconcerting passage to the deniers of Christs Deity. The N.W.T. Col. 1:15-17 states
because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth all other things have been created through him and for him. Also he is before all other things and by means of him all other things were made to exist. (Italics mine)
We take note that the adjective other appeared four times and it does not occur even once in the Greek Text. The words other and before were inserted to emphasize that Jesus was also created. The J.W.s are perpetrating the Colossian Gnostic heresy which Paul was seeking to destroy. This heresy affirmed that Jesus was a created being between God and Man. At no time does the New Testament apply the verb to create to the relationship of the Father and the Son. We do not find the Greek word (prtoktistos) which means first-created, but the word (prtotokos) which means first-begotten, and is used in the N.T. in reference to Christ. The adjective first gives Christ priority of status and time. Christ has priority over all created things plus His sovereignty over the same. In Col. 2:9 (R.V. 1901) Paul affirms that-
in Him dwells (present tense verb continually dwells) all of the fulness (plrma) of the Godhead bodily.
This is a direct affirmation of deity!
The translation found at Rev. 3:14 is also warped to fit the Arianism of the J.W.s (see N.W.T., Rev. 3:14).
the beginning of the creation by God. (Italics mine)
The Greek Text of the Revelation passage does not say by God, but has the genitive case meaning of God. The translation which appears in the N.W.T. would require a different grammatical structure with the preposition (hupo). As in Joh. 1:1, the term (arch) appears here also. From the period of Homer forward it has the sense of beginning, first cause, government (as in Eph. 6:12.) The Greek scriptures declare that Christ is the source and origin of all thingsnot all other things as stated in the New World Translation.
The N.W.T. of Joh. 8:58 is the strangest misrepresentation of all of the texts we have mentioned so far. The translation says-
Before Abraham came into existence, I have been. (Italics mine)
The footnote calls this translation a perfect indefinite tense. No standard grammar or lexicon has ever heard of such a translation of a simple present tense verb (eimi). Jesus simply affirms His eternal existence before Abraham He said, Before Abraham was, I am.
The passages in the N.T. which speak of Christs subordination (e.g. 1Co. 12:1-2) only speaks of his self-emptying incarnation and not as the N.W.T. suggests, that Christ is less than God the Father.
The favorite book (The Revelation) of the J.W.s has a doctrine of Christ which stands in marked contrast to their anti-Christian view of Christ.
Old Testament passages which speak of Yahweh are without hesitation applied to Jesus Christ (Deu. 10:17 see Rev. 17:14, Dan. 7:9 see Rev. 1:14, Zec. 4:10 see Rev. 5:6. Jesus Christ has co-sovereignty with the Father, see Rev. 11:15; He also shares one throne, see Rev. 22:1; Rev. 22:3. The author of Revelation identifies Christ with God, yet he knows nothing of two Gods. Here we see a strict monotheism (belief in one God only). Another point which does not adjust well to the thought of the J.W.s is that the author identifies the glorified Christ with the Christ of the self-empting incarnation.
These brief statements necessitate our agreement with Dr. Bruce Metzger (see his article listed in the bibliography) that in light of their doctrine of Christ the J.W.s can in no manner be termed Christian! (See following Bibliography for further study material on Jehovahs Witnesses.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
For Further Study See: Books and Booklets, etc., written by Jehovahs Witnesses, necessary for a primary understanding of their position. These are obtainable from Watchtower, 117 Adams St.,Brooklyn 1, N.Y.
New World Translation of N.T. in one volume. The O.T. is not yet complete, but four volumes containing Genesis to Lamentations are available. Their creedal position is easily determined in Make Sure of All Things; What Do the Scriptures Say About Survival After Death?; The TrinityDivine Mystery or Pagan Myth?; Hell FireBible Truth or Pagan Myth?; Yearbook of Jehovahs Witnesses: This is an annual report on growth and progress. Jehovahs Witnesses: The New World Society. This is their official history.
Books and Articles, etc., written as criticism of this movement. See these accurate, but simple presentations.
Jan Karel Van Baalen, The Chaos of Cults, chp. 10, Jehovahs Witnesses Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, revised edition.
John H. Gerstner, The Theology of the Major Sects, chp. 3, Grand Rapids 6, Michigan, 1960. The appendices comparing The Doctrines of Cults are worth the price of the book. (The Doctrines compared are Bible, God, Man, Sin, Christ, Redemption, Church, Future).
Martin and Klann, Jehovah of the Watchtower, Zondervan Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is the best semi-popular statement covering history and doctrines of Jehovahs Witnesses in existence.
Walter R. Martin, Editor, Religious Research Digest (deals only with the cultsA Must!) This is a new quarterly published by the Christian Research Institute Inc., 122 Beaufort Ave., Livingston, N.J. (Subscription price $2.00 per year.)
Dr. Bruce M. Metzger, The Jehovahs Witnesses and Jesus. This is an article in Theology Today, April, 1953, P.O. Box 29, Princeton, N.J.
William J. Schnell, author of Into the Light of Christianity, which effectively debunks brainwashing and heals affected minds of this malady, has in his possession 7,591 letters from converted Jehovahs Witnesses. Price of authors second and more important book is $2.95. He now publishes the bi-monthly Converted Jehovahs Witness Expositor which is sent a whole year as a Missionary into the homes of your Jehovahs Witness friends for sixty-five cents. A new booklet How To Witness to Jehovahs Witnesses may be had for fifteen cents in single copies, or $9.00 in 100 copy lots and is a great help in effectively dealing with Jehovahs Witnesses at your doors and in use of book studies in their homes. Order directly from William J. Schnell, 2889 Guss Ave., Youngstown 8, Ohio, USA.
Tomlinsons Comments
The Laodicean Church
Text (Rev. 3:14-22)
14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicca write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: 15 I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth, 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 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. 21 He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
INTRODUCTION
While in the first four churches, we are given to see the development of a positive evil within the church, ranging from the deeds of the Nicolaitanes in Ephesus, the synagogue of Satan in Smyrna, the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes and the doctrine of Baalam in Pergamos, the depths of Satan in Thyatira; so with the Sardis church we have revealed to us the development of a state of decline, beginning with Sardis, having a name and are dead, and reaching the final state in Laodicea in which the church is so lukewarm that it is wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
Rev. 3:14-15 The Lord here presents Himself as The Amen, the Faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God.
These characters are not taken from the seven-fold description of Chapter Rev. 1:13-16, but they are taken from other revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ found in that chapter. There He is presented as the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the ending (Rev. 3:8), and also as The faithful Witness. (Rev. 3:5)
Here Christ calls himself by one of the names of God. It is a remarkable name. It is found in Isa. 65:16. It is found in the midst of a prophecy of the overwhelming judgments that are to fall upon apostate Israel.
So here in the last church period, Christ uses the name of God when judgment is to be meted out. In Isa. 65:17, he says, For behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth. So following the Laodecean there is to be a new creation.
Again this title The Amen, describes God as the One who accomplishes all His purposes and all His promises. The Lord is this God, the Amen. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen! (2Co. 1:20) And most appropriately he presents Himself as The Amen in the closing period of church history. The very use of this title, gives us the cue of this being the seventh and final stage of the history of the church in the closing days of the gospel age. God is about to ring down the curtain in the history of the church.
He presents Himself as the Faithful and True Witness. The witness of the church had been dimmed by her departure into compromise, paganism, division of denominationalism and, after a brief return to adherence to His Word and name in the Restoration period, gone into total eclipse in the lukewarmness of the final epoch.
Therefore He wants the church to know He is keeping the witness clear, by introducing Himself as the Faithful and true Witness.
The beginning of the Creation of God. Here He presents Himself, not as a part of the creation, but the uncreated principle of creation from whom it (creation) took form.
Nay there is also here the added and deeper thought, that He is the beginning of the new creation in His redemptive work of bringing many sons into glory. (Heb. 2:10) He is the first born among many brethren. (Rom. 8:29)
I know thy works. In every letter we have, without exception, this soul-searching declaration. Christ not only knows the works of each individual congregation, but here he is declaring he knows the works of the last church period. This is because He knows all things from the beginning. He looked down the ages and saw this last age of the gospel dispensation and saw the paralyzing effects of lukewarmness.
The loss of first love, of the Ephesian period, reaches its ultimate end in the awful lukewarmness of the last and final age of this dispensation.
Rev. 3:16-17 The Sharp word of reproof. Usually, in the other letters, the third division of the seven-fold division of the letters, is a word of commendation, followed by the word of reproof. But in this letter the reproof comes before the commendation. It would seem that Christ is so displeased with the final stage of the church that he hastens to the reproof.
Thou art neither hot nor cold; I would thou were cold or hot, so because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Tepid religion is nauseating to Christ. He looked with loathing on the Pharisees of the days of His flesh, who looked upon themselves as religious paragons while their hearts were not right with God, either spiritually or doctrinally.
The Laodiceans were not warm in their affection for Christ, they were not burning with zeal in His cause; nor yet were they cold and altogether heartless. If they had been outright cold, it would have been easier for Him to deal with them, and there would have been a greater likelihood of their discovering their condition.
Ignorance of its true condition was to be a characteristic of the last church period. How true this has become in our day and how completely fulfilled. The mass of people today do not realize their lost condition. They live in the midst of delusion about their lost estate. Thinking itself rich when in reality it was poor; thinking itself well supplied with all that a church of Christ should have, when in reality it was destitute of the most essential things.
This church is just the opposite of that in Smyrna, which was seemingly in poverty and tribulation, but in reality was rich. There was no tribulation in Laodicea, no persecution, no synagogue of Satan to molest them. They were having a very easy and comfortable time.
How true of this age. The church has fine buildings, up-to-date facilities, the services are carried out in the best approved form. But it is hard to get this kind of church today to realize their low estate, spiritually speaking.
Rev. 3:18 But Christ does not abandon them, but says, I council thee. He calls them to repent, coupling that call with a most tender word of exhortation. He had declared them poor, blind and naked, but immediately offers to supply them with gold that they might be rich and white raiment that they might be suitably clad, and with eye salve, that they might see. He offers them:
Gold tried in the fire In Psa. 19:7-11, David declares the value of the Word of GodMore to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. But the church today is generally uninterested in the gold of Gods word. Modernist preachers stand in the pulpit preaching platitudes and the hearers take dross for gold, and pewter for silver. Hence the appalling spiritual poverty.
White raiment that thou mayest be clothed. Rev. 19:8 explains that the fine linen, clean and white, represents the righteousness of saints. In the last age when so many are rejecting blood atonement, no wonder he speaks of them as being naked.
Eye-salve, that thou mayest see. The advice to anoint thine eyes with eye-salve suggests that the church of the last period is destitute of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, for John speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Unction (or anointing) from Christ, the Holy One. (1Jn. 2:20)
Rev. 3:19 Sharp as had been His rebuke to this lukewarm church, his rebuke was a proof of his unfailing love.
He calls them to be zealous, instead of lukewarm. He calls them to repent. He adds a final word. (Rev. 3:20)
Rev. 3:20 This marvelous invitation needs consideration. First, it is not that Christ is outside that chiefly impresses us, but that He is so near, even at the very door, and not only so, but is ready to enter instantly it is opened. Just outside the door, but the lukewarmness of the church fails to invite Him in. This is the only church of the seven that keeps Christ outside. The self-satisfied church is inside, the door is closed, and Christ is knocking for admission.
The second thing that impresses us is that this invitation indicates this is the last church period and Christ is about to return and he stands at the door and knocks. He is about to come in his second advent. Note: He wants to come in and sup with the saints. When Christ returns we are to sup with him at the wedding feast. (Luk. 12:35-40) (Rev. 19:7-9)
There is no real commendation in this letter. There was nothing to commend a lukewarm church.
Next comes a word of encouragement. The message is that it has a special word to the individualIf any man.
In Thyatira the Lord recognizes a remnant of faithful ones, the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine; and in Sardis, there are a few names which have not defiled their garments, but in Laodicea there is a word of strong encouragement to the individual who, amidst general indifference to the things of God, longs for personal fellowship with the Lord.
It would seem that the indifference of lukewarmness of this last period would be so widespread that his encouragement would have to be given to the individual instead to the entire church.
Rev. 3:21 Next comes the greatest of all the promises to any church.
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. How significant this statement becomes since it is the closing promise I
Since He is about to returnstands even at the door and knocksHe promises them who overcome to sit down and reign with Him, since at His return the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.
The devil had promised Him the kingdoms of this world in the temptation, but Christ rejected it, for the price of that glory was the worship of the devil.
Christ refused the offer from the devil, that He might wait for this glorious hour when He, as an overcomer, with all the overcomers, should have earned the right to reign.
Paul said, If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. (2Ti. 2:12)
Lastly, we hear the final urgent call. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit, etc. Like the declaration, I know thy works, this call is found in all the seven letters. It is a stirring call to the churches of this Laodicean period. Seven times He repeats this injunction, lest we lose sight of the history of the whole church throughout the seven periods of her life from Pentecost to the end.
Thus we have seen that these letters foretold the main developments and principle eras of the church down through the gospel age.
Also they were written to admonish, encourage, warn, guide, reprove, and call us to heed, to the end that we may pass the time of our sojourn here working out our salvation with fear and trembling, having respect to the recompense of the reward.
As each of Jacobs sons had different personalities and these personalities pictured the characteristics of the tribes descending from them, so do these seven churches, through their local conditions, symbolize the conditions in each of the seven great church periods.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(14) Laodicea.Situated half way between Philadelphia and Colossae, and not far from Hierapolis. It received its name from Laodice, wife of Antiochus the second king of Syria, by whom it was rebuilt and beautified. It had borne in earlier times the names of Diospolis and afterwards Rhoas. It shared with Thyatira and Sardis in the dye trade; the woods grown in the neighbourhood were famous for their quality and the rich blackness of their colour. Prosperity in trade had so enriched the population that when their city suffered in the great earthquake (A.D. 60) they were able to carry on the work of rebuilding without applying, as many of the neighbouring towns were compelled to do, to the Imperial Treasury for aid. The language of St. Paul (Col. 1:5-8) suggests that the churches of Colossae and the neighbourhood first received Christianity from the preaching of Epaphras, though it seems strange that so important a city, lying hard upon the great Roman road from Ephesus to the east, should have been passed over by St. Paul in his journeyings throughout Phrygia (see Act. 16:6; Act. 18:23); yet, on the other hand, Phrygia was a vague term, and the language of Col. 2:1 is most generally understood to imply that the Apostle had never personally visited either Colossae or Laodicea. (See Note on Col. 2:1.) But it was a Church in which St. Paul took the deepest possible interest; the believers there were constantly in his mind. He knew their special temptations to the worship of inferior mediators, and to spiritual paralysis springing from wordly prosperity and intellectual pride. He had great heart-conflict for those of Laodicea (Col. 3:1), and in proof of his earnest solicitude he addressed a letter to them (Col. 4:16), in all probability the epistle we call the Epistle to the Ephesians. Prom the Epistle to the Colossians we may gather that when St. Paul wrote the Christians at Laodicea assembled for worship in the house of Nymphas (Col. 4:15) probably under the presidency of Archippus (Rev. 3:17).
Unto the angel of the church (or, congregation) of the Laodiceans.Better, in Laodicea. By the angel we understand the presiding pastor. There is some ground for identifying him with Archippus. It is too much to dismiss this as a baseless supposition. (See Note in Trench.) It is a well-supported view which understands the passage (Col. 4:17) to mean that Archippus was a minister or office-bearer in the Church at Laodicea.
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness.The Amen, used only here as a personal name. It is the Hebrew word for verily, and may have some reference to Isa. 65:16; but more certainly it seems chosen to recall the frequent use of it by our Lord Himself. He who so often prefaced His solemn utterance by Verily, verily, now reveals Himself as the source of all certainty and truth. In Him is Yea, and in Him Amen (2Co. 1:20). In Him there is no conjecture, or guess-work; for He is (and the Greek equivalents of the Hebrew Amen are used following) the faithful and true witness, who speaks what He knows, and testifies what He has seen (Joh. 3:11). Faithful is to be taken here as meaning trustworthy. The word sometimes means trustful (Joh. 20:27; Act. 14:1), at other times, trustworthy (2Ti. 2:22; 1Th. 5:24). In the Arian controversy, the application of the word to Christ was used as an argument against His divinity; it was enough to show in reply that the same word was applied to God, and expressed His faithfulness to His word and promise (1Th. 5:21). TrueHe is not only trustworthy as a witness, but He combines in Himself all those qualifications which a witness ought to possess. The same word is used here as in Rev. 3:7, where see Note. Trench suggests the three things necessary to constitute a true witness. He must have been an eyewitness of what He relates, possess competence to relate what He has seen, and be willing to do so.
The beginning (better, the origination) of the creation of God.This title of our Lord does not occur in the Epistles to the other churches, but very closely resembles the language used by St. Paul in writing to the Colossians (Col. 1:15-18). The beginning, not meaning that Christ was the first among the created, but that He was the origination, or primary source of all creation. By Him were all things made (Joh. 1:1-3 : comp. Col. 1:15; Col. 1:18), not with Him, but by Him creation began. In short, the word beginning (like the word faithful) must be understood in an active sense. He has originating power (Act. 3:14) as well as priority of existence. The appropriateness of its use will be seen when we remember that the Laodicean Church was exposed to the temptation of worshipping inferior principalities. (See Col. 1:16; Col. 2:15, where the plural of the word here rendered beginning, or origin, is used, and is translated principalities.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
VII. LAODICEA Rich in goods, but poor in faith, Rev 3:14-22.
14. Laodicea From Philadelphia our apostle in his circuit would range to the south-east through a journey of fifty or sixty miles to the capital of Phrygia, the rich and powerful Laodicea. In so doing he would cross from the Hermus over a mountain range into the fertile valley of the river Meander, a river whose varying course has given our language a verb, “to meander.” He would find a great city, which, under the Roman sway, had continually grown in power. He would also find, to all appearance, a rich and proud Church, whose Christianity had assumed a stereotype and inactive form. The Apostolic Constitutions (viii, 46) say, that Archippus was then Bishop of Laodicea. And it seems to some a coincidence that in Col 4:17, St. Paul appears to imply that he was a remiss minister. Hengstenberg finds, not wisely, an allusion to his name in the word , Rev 3:14. Laodicea was one of a triangle of neighbouring city Churches; including Colosse, to which Paul had addressed an epistle, and Hierapolis, visible from the summit of the Laodicean theatre, and where Papias was, soon after St. John’s day, a bishop. St. Paul in his epistle to Colosse salutes the brethren in Laodicea, and requires his epistle to be read in the Church of the Laodiceans, with an exchange. See note on Col 4:16. Laodicea was founded in the third century before Christ by Antiochus II., king of Syria, and so named after his wife. It submitted to Rome, and in the war of Mithridates, king of Pontus, stood a siege against that monarch. It had been (A.D. 62) overthrown by an earthquake, but was munificently patronized by the Roman emperors, and its theatres, aqueducts, and churches have left magnificent ruins for the eye of the modern traveller and the spade of the excavator. Perhaps Laodicea listened to the voice of the Lord, woke to action, and became a powerful Church. A bishop and martyr, Sagaris, (A.D. 170,) is mentioned by Eusebius. About the middle of the fourth century the Council of Laodicea assumed to settle the New Testament Canon, in which it is remarkable that our Apocalypse was denied a place.
The Amen The divine affirmative One. So in Isa 65:16, “The God of Truth,” in the Hebrew “The God of Amen.” In 2Co 1:20, Christ is the medium through whom our obedient amen goes up to God; here he is the intervening, affirming Amen, affirming God’s truth, to us. The “verily” so often repeated by our Lord in the gospels, is in the Greek amen; and it is remarkable that in John’s Gospel it is always doubled, verily, verily, amen, amen.
Faithful and true witness A title preparing us for a faithful and true testimony to Laodicea respecting her character and spiritual condition.
Beginning of the creation A sublime declaration of the divine authority from which that testimony comes. A beginning of a series of things, taken passively, is the first one in that series. In that sense Christ would be the first created being in the series of creation. Taken actually, as that which originates the series, then the series does not include, but takes existence from, him. In that case Christ is the originator of the creation, uncreated. How John understands it we may well learn from the very first verse of his Gospel. In the opening words, “In the beginning was the Word,” the same Word, , is used as here, and its subject precedes creation. And in the third verse we are told that “the world was made by him,” namely, the Word, who was in the beginning.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Letter To The Church In Laodicea ( Rev 3:14-22 ).
‘And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, ‘These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.’
Jesus is the One who is the ‘yes’, the ‘Amen’ (‘so be it’) to all the promises of God (1Co 1:20), and especially the promises in Rev 1:5-7. He is the full provider of the riches in those promises. The Laodiceans were famous for their pride in their wealth but He is telling them that their riches do not compare with what He has to offer. He offers them the true riches, the riches of God.
He is the faithful and true witness ((Rev 1:5; Rev 19:11; Rev 21:5). He has suffered for God and He has suffered to death for them and His words can be relied on (Rev 21:5). He has proved Himself and His faithfulness by His action in offering Himself for His own (compare Rev 2:13) with all that results (Rev 1:6). He wants them to respond in like manner.
He is ‘the beginning of the creation of God’. As its beginning He is its source, the firstborn before the whole of creation (Col 1:15). But equally important is the fact that He is also the beginning of the new creation (Rev 21:1 with Rev 1:7). In that there is a land of riches beyond anything they have ever dreamed of. Thus all things belong to Him and are in His hands.
The idea of the Amen comes from Isa 65:15-19 (literal Hebrew), where it is connected with the new creation. Here God distinguishes between ‘His servants’ and the rest of Israel and Judah.
‘He shall call his servants by another name, so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of Amen, and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of Amen, because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from my eyes. For behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind, but be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying’ (Isa 65:15-19).
Thus ‘the Amen’ has in mind the new creation and the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:1-2). The God of Amen is the God who says ‘so be it’ of the future, He guarantees it and can be relied on to bring it about.
The idea of ‘the Amen’ here in Revelation is to be seen as including both the faithful and true witness and the beginning of the creation of God within itself. In Rev 1:5-6, He is revealed as the faithful witness and firstborn from the dead, ruler of the kings of the earth, the One who has delivered and exalted His people and John adds ‘Amen’, and in Rev 1:7 He is the king coming in glory to judge the world, and John again adds ‘Amen’. So as the Amen He is the successful carrier out of His purposes. ‘The beginning of the creation of God’ has as much in mind the ‘new creation’ which results from His coming, as the old creation. The future is safe in His hands for He is the Amen.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Epistle to the Church of the Laodiceans Comments Rev 3:14-22 records for us John’s epistle to the church of the Laodiceans.
Historical Setting – The ancient city of Laodicea, along with its immediate neighbours of Colossi and Herapolis, were situated within the ethnic region of southern Phrygia, but politically, it lay within the boundaries of the province of proconsular Asia during Roman times. The city of Laodicea was named in commemoration of a Greco-Syrian dynasty that ruled this area of Asia Minor in times past, was the chief city of this region in the Lycus river valley under the Roman system of dividing the Empire into smaller administrative regions. [54]
[54] E. J. Banks, “Laodicea,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).
We find from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that not only was there a church in Colossi, but we read within the epistle of Colossians (Col 2:1, Col 4:13) that there were churches in these two neighbouring cities of Laodicea and Herapolis.
Col 2:1, “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;”
Col 4:13, “For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.”
The church established in Laodicea is addressed in John’s Apocalypse and described as rich, proud and lukewarm, which reflects the wealth of this city. We know that this church continued for centuries because it hosted a major church council in A.D. 344. The church of Hierapolis is mentioned by Eusebius as the bishopric of Papias (A.D. 60-130) [55] (a friend of Polycarp) and Apollinaris (2 nd c.). [56]
[55] Eusebius writes, “And at the same time Papias, bishop of the parish of Hierapolis, became well known.” ( Ecclesiastical History 3.36.2)
[56] Eusebius writes, “I have sent you writings of the most blessed Claudius Apolinarius, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia.” ( Ecclesiastical History 5.19.2)
Comparison to the Epistle of Colossians – John’s epistle to the church of Laodicea in Rev 3:14-22 contains similar phrases found in Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. Paul had instructed the Laodiceans to read the Colossian letter and vise verse (Col 4:16).
Col 4:16, “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”
Therefore, John uses similar phrases found in Colossians. For example, he refers to Jesus Christ as “the firstborn from the dead” (compare Rev 1:5 to Col 1:18).
Rev 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead , and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”
Col 1:18, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead ; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
John describes Jesus as “the beginning of the creation of God” (compare Rev 3:14 to Col 1:15).
Col 1:15, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”
Rev 3:14 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;
Rev 3:14
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:15
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:16
[57] William MacDonald, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, in Believer’s Bible Commentary, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1995), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), Introduction: IV: Background and Theme.
Rev 3:17 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:
Rev 3:17
Rev 3:18 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.
Rev 3:19 Rev 3:20 Rev 3:20
Note the use of the word door in Gen 4:7.
Gen 4:7, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door . And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
Each day, we face the decision of who to open the door of our heart to Jesus, or to sin.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The letter to the congregation at Laodicea:
v. 14. 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:
v. 15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot.
v. 16. So, then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth;
v. 17. 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.
v. 18. 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 eye-salve that thou mayest see.
v. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent.
v. 20. 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.
v. 21. To him that overcomes 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.
v. 22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. The congregation had been in existence at the time when Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians, for he stated that he had a great conflict also for the Christians at Laodicea, Col 2:1; Col 4:15-17. Apparently there was even greater reason for apprehension at this time, to judge from the general tone of this letter. The very introduction places the faithful and true Christ in strong opposition to the unstable and vacillating Christians of this Phrygian town: And to the angel of the congregation at Laodicea write: These things says Amen, the Witness faithful and true, the Beginning of God’s creation. It was a sad, almost disagreeable task which devolved upon the pastor of the Laodicean congregation, especially since the blame for the conditions in that city fell upon him. It was Amen that was speaking, a word which He Himself explains by stating that He is the true and faithful Witness, that every word which He utters is the eternal truth, that He does not recede from His position or change His mind like a vacillating weakling. He Himself is the Beginning of God’s creation, the active Source of God’s universe, the Creator of all things, almighty as well as omniscient, Joh 1:3.
It is a sentence of divine disgust over lukewarm religion which the Lord utters: I know thy works, that neither cold thou art nor hot; would that cold thou wert or hot; so, because thou art tepid, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit thee out of My mouth. The omniscient Lord, familiar with all their hearts and minds, knew also all their doings, their attitude toward the Christian faith and all their customs and habits. They were not cold, they were not outspoken unbelievers, they did not range themselves on the side of the enemies of the Cross and of the Gospel, they were not of the party of the blasphemers. But, unfortunately, neither were they warm or hot; they did not possess that energetic warmth of religious life, of fervent faith and love, they had none of the warm zeal which breaks forth in holy wrath over the ungodly attitude of their day and age. Even a frank enmity against the Christian religion is more promising in a person than the luke-warmness and spiritual indifference which these people showed. It would have been better for them never to have come to the knowledge of the divine doctrine than to have come to this knowledge and not to be filled with spiritual zeal, 2Pe 2:21. Their attitude fills the Lord with supreme disgust, with unspeakable loathing; it acts upon Him literally as an emetic, He is constrained to vomit them out of His mouth. That is the judgment of the Lord upon all such as are not seriously concerned about their Christianity, that still profess to be Christians, usually from some ulterior motive, and yet will not oppose the godless ways of the world. They want to mediate between Jehovah and Baal, between God and the world, between Christ and Belial, between light and darkness, between faith and unbelief, between righteousness and unrighteousness. Such people the Lord cannot bear, and unless they change their tactics very decidedly, His disgusted attitude will result in their punishment, in their being excluded from the blessings of the Kingdom.
The Lord adds a further characterization of lukewarm behavior in the Christian Church: Thou sayest, Rich I am, and abundance I possess, and of nothing I stand in need, and thou knowest not that thou art miserable and pitiful and poor and blind and naked. Self-sufficiency, self-satisfaction, is an attribute of lukewarm Christians. They are convinced of the perfection of their own Christianity and are careful to let everyone else know of the good opinion which they hold of themselves. They imagine that they are rich in all spiritual truth and knowledge; they claim that they are filled to satiety with the old Gospel doctrine, and that no one can teach them anything. See Hos 12:9. The talk which is heard from Christians of this type in our day often agrees word for word with what is here recorded. People are turning up their noses in disgust at the old Gospel-truth; the doctrines of the Catechism are beneath their dignity. But they deceive themselves. They are afflicted with blindness, and do not know it; they are in need of sympathy, and do not feel it; rich they claim to be, but in reality are poor beyond conception; they think their eyes have been opened, whereas in reality they have returned to the spiritual blindness of their state before conversion; they are proud of their dress of self-righteousness, and do not know that in the sight of God they are bare and naked.
Warningly, therefore, the Lord calls out to them: I advise thee earnestly to buy from Me gold tried by fire that thou mayest be rich, and white garments to clothe thee, lest the shame of thy nakedness appear, and salve to anoint thine eyes that thou mayest see. Here the earnest love of the Savior even for those that do not realize their own defects appears, He, in whom is the Spirit of counsel and of understanding, is so concerned about their soul’s salvation that He earnestly and urgently advises them to buy from Him wares tried and true. The gold which has been tried by fire is true, sound faith, 1Pe 1:7, such faith as stands the test of persecutions and tribulations as well as that of peace and quietness. The white garments that will cover the nakedness of men is that of Christ’s righteousness, which is imputed to everyone that believes. And the salve is the illumination of the Holy Ghost, which is needed above all to bring men to the knowledge of their real spiritual condition. These wonderful gifts are not obtained by any man by his own reason or strength; the price which man pays for them is not one of his own merit. The buying of which the Lord speaks is that which He brings out in that wonderful passage: “Ho, every one that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ” It is all free, wonderful love and mercy on the part of God.
The Lord follows up His warning with a powerful appeal: As for Me, as many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, then, and repent. Here Christ places His own person and work into the foreground and emphasizes His disinterested love for even such as have proved themselves unworthy of His love. It is this love which causes the Lord to be instant in reprimanding, and even in inflicting painful punishments, His object being to restore the lukewarm to the former loyalty. They should return to the habit of a true zeal for Him and for His work; they should repent at once and once for all of their indifference and inconsistency. In this way the Lord at all times lets the congregation feel the warmth and the eagerness of His love, in order that at least some Christians be kindled to new spiritual life.
The Lord now adds a very general invitation: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone will hear My voice and open the door, I shall enter in to him and hold the feast with him and he with Me. The time of mercy is still at hand, the Gospel is still being preached. The coming of the Lord is near, however. Many events, many happenings in Church and State are intended to remind us of the fact and of the nearness of His return. Upon US devolves the supreme necessity of hearing His voice, of heeding the Word of His Gospel and of His will that all men come to the knowledge of the truth. If we thus heed His knocking and obey His voice, then He will enter into our hearts and make His abode with us, hold the feast of His everlasting grace with us, feed us with the heavenly manna of His body, and let us drink of the river of heavenly pleasures forevermore.
He repeats this thought for the sake of emphasis: He that conquers, I shall give him to sit with Me on My throne, just as I conquered and sat with My Father on His throne. He that has conquered and overcome, everyone who here in time renounced all those things which are opposed to Christ, will in yonder world take part in the glory and triumph of Christ, will rule and govern with Him with divine honor, glory, and bliss, world without end. That is what happened to Christ in His exaltation, and that is the reward which awaits those that are faithful to the end, to share the throne of God, the heavenly Father, and of the Lamb which was slain for them. They will enjoy the most intimate, the most blessed fellowship with God and with Christ to all eternity. And again the call of the Lord, inviting, appealing, sounds forth: He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations!
Summary
The Lord addresses letters to the congregations at Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, commending them wherein they were faithful, but reprimanding all defilement and all luke-warmness in the strongest terms.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rev 3:14. The church of the Laodiceans Laodicea lay south of Philadelphia in the way to Ephesus; and if you inspect the maps, you will find the seven churches to lie in a kind of circular form; so that the natural progress was from Ephesus to Smyrna, from Smyrna toPergamos, from Pergamos to Thyatira, from Thyatira to Sardis, from Sardis to Philadelphia, from Philadelphia to Laodicea, and from Laodicea round to Ephesus again; which is the method and order that St. John has observed in addressing them, andwas probably the circuit that he took in his visitation. That there was a flourishing church in Laodicea in the primitive times of Christianity, is evident from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, wherein frequent mention is made of the Laodiceans; as well as from this Epistle of St. John. But the doom of Laodicea seems to have been more severe and terrible than that of almost any other of the churches: for it is now utterly destroyed and forsaken of men, and is become an habitation only for wolves, foxes, and jackals, a den of dragons, snakes, and vipers: and that because the Lord hath executed the judgment that he hath pronounced upon her; that all the world might know and tremble at the fierce anger of God against impenitent, negligent, and careless sinners and apostates. For such was the accusation of the lukewarm Laodiceans, who grew proud and self-conceited, thinking themselves much better than they really were. Wherefore because they were neither hot nor cold, they were loathsome to Christ, and he therefore assured them, that he would spit them out of his mouth, Rev 3:15-16. The ruins shew it to have been a very great city, situated upon six or seven hills, and encompassing a large space of ground. Some notion may be formed of its former greatness and glory from three theatres and a circus, which are remaining, one of which is truly admirable, as it was capable of containing above thirty thousand men; into whose area they descended by fifty steps. The city is now called Eski Hisar, or the Old Castle; and though it was once the mother church of sixteen bishopricks, yet it now lies desolate, not so much as inhabited by shepherds; and, so far from shewing any of the ornaments of God’s ancient worship, it cannot now boast an anchorite’s or hermit’s chapel, where God’s name is praised and invoked. Such is the state and condition of these seven churches, and there cannot be a stronger proof of the truth of prophesy, nor a more effectual warning to other Christians. The first bishop of Laodicea ordained by the apostles, is said to have been Archippus, in the Apostolical Constitutions. See Col 4:17. The Amen, is one of God’s titles in Isa 65:16. (in the Hebrew). That prophesy seems to be applied to the Messiah, and therefore relates to our case. The words which follow, are synonymous, explaining this; for the faithful and true Witness is the same as the Amen. The confession and promises of Christ are true, and certain to every persevering believer: he was firm and unmoved in his confession, and he will never fail his faithful saints in what he has promised, and sealed with his blood. Instead of the beginning of the creation of God, Fleming renders it the efficient cause of God’s creation; and the word has frequently that signification. The meaning is, that the whole creation was produced by him, and he is the Head and Governor of all that he has made.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 3:14 . . This Hebraistic expression [1547] is, as to its meaning, entirely synonymous with the following Greek expressions: , ; [1548] but the double designation of the Lord establishes with earnest emphasis the indubitable certainty of all that the Lord, who is the absolutely faithful witness (Rev 1:5 ), has now to say to this church of his at Laod.; viz, the accusations (Rev 3:15 sqq.), the advice (Rev 3:18 ), the threatening and promise. [1549] Not inappropriate, therefore, is the admonition that in and through Christ all God’s promises are, and are to be, fulfilled; [1550] from which the inference has been derived, that the epistle to the church at Laod. is to be regarded the Amen of all the seven epistles, [1551] or that in the designations of the Lord, Rev 3:14 , a warrant is to be sought for the fulfilment of what is said in chs 4 sqq. [1552] The question here is not with respect to the promises or other utterances of God , [1553] which have their fulfilment in Christ , but with respect to the discourses of Christ himself which have in him [1554] their guaranty. Hence it is not correct when N. de Lyra adds to ., . . . , “of paternal majesty.” As a “witness,” the Lord here manifests himself, however, as entirely determined by all his testimonies in the following epistle.
. Not synonymous with (= : so ordinarily), but just because the Lord is a faithful, and, because of his truth, an unconditionally trustworthy witness, is he a true , actual, and genuine witness who deserves this name. [1555]
. Cf. Col 1:15 sqq., on which Meyer has refuted the erroneous expositions which essentially recur in reference to this passage. According to the wording, . . . . cannot signify , the prince of God’s creation; [1556] also the . . , “the creature restored, creates new things,” the church; [1557] and still less can the expression signify what in Rev 1:5 follows of course the . ., although there it is said in clear words: [1558] The wording in itself allows only two conceptions: either Christ is designated “the beginning of the creation of God,” i.e., as the first creature [1559] of God, [1560] as Ew. and Zll. understand it in harmony with the Arians; [1561] or, the Lord is regarded as the active principle of the creation. [1562] Unconditionally decisive for the latter alternative, which, however, dare not be perverted by a reference to the spiritual new creation, [1563] is the fundamental view of Christ, which is expressed in the Apoc., as well as in every other book of the N. T. How could Christ have caused even the present epistle to be written, if he himself were a creature? How could every creature in heaven and earth worship him, [1564] if he himself were one of them? [1565] The designation of the Lord, that he is and , need only be recalled in its necessary force, and it will be found that in the lies the fact that Christ is the of the creation, [1566] while in the lies the fact of Christ’s coming to make an end of the visible creation. [See Note XXXIX., p. 184.]
[1547] Cf., as to the form, 2Co 1:20 .
[1548] Cf. Bengel, Ewald, Hengstenb.
[1549] Vitr., Hengstenb., etc.
[1550] Grot., De Wette, etc.
[1551] Zll.
[1552] De Wette, Stern.
[1553] 2Co 1:20 . Cf. also Isa 65:16 .
[1554] Cf. Joh 14:6 ; N. de Lyra, etc.
[1555] Cf. Rev 3:7 .
[1556] Eichh. Cf. also Calov., Beng.
[1557] 1 consequently reads . . But it is amended. Grot., Wetst., Eichh., Heinr. Cf. C. a Lap.
[1558] Cf., besides, Eichh.
[1559] Cf., on , Gen 49:3 ; Deu 21:17 .
[1560] Cf. Pro 8:22 .
[1561] Castalis says: “ chef d’uvre , the most excellent and first of all God’s works.”
[1562] Andr., Areth., N. de Lyra, Vatabl., Calov., Vitr., Wolf, Stern, Hengstenb., Ebrard. Cf. also De Wette, Ew. ii.
[1563] Klief.
[1564] Rev 5:13 .
[1565] Cf. Rev 19:10 .
[1566] Cf. Col 1:15-16 ; Joh 1:3 .
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XXXIX. Rev 3:14 .
Philippi ( Kirch. Glaub ., ii. 215): “He is the beginning of the creation; the beginning, and, as such, the principle, the original source, and author, and therefore not himself a creature. So God himself is also called the beginning and the end (Rev 21:6 ), and, in like manner, Christ (Rev 22:13 ).” Gebhardt (pp. 90 98) refutes the interpretations of Baur, Hoekstra, Kstlin, Weiss, and Ritschl; and states the true interpretation to be as follows: “What exposition is demanded by the laws of language? Without further delay, I reply, that, had the seer written ‘the beginning of the creatures ( ) of God,’ or had he written ‘the first, or the first-born, or the first-fruit ( , , ), of the creation of God,’ then the expression might be understood to denote the first created, or that which precedes all things, the first creature in time and rank. But the seer has written , which can mean nothing else than principium creationis , the principle, the , , , of the creation of God. After this affirmation of the literal sense, I may say that it finds confirmation in Rev 1:17-18 ; Rev 2:8 . To a church in which Christ not only discovers self-blindness, but which he threatens to spew out of his mouth, which he counsels to seek help from himself for its disease, to which he says that he rebukes and chastens those whom he loves, in a word, to a church to which he reveals himself as to no other in his fullest and highest significance, and we must remember that we have to do with the last of the seven letters, “the first creature” has not, in any of its possible meanings, a really satisfactory sense; and we find that sense only when we understand it to mean the principle of the creation of God, i.e., the personal, mediatorial, essential ground and end of the creation. Thus simply explained, according to the laws of language, the passage (Rev 3:14 ), taken in connection with those quoted before, furnishes us with a very remarkable result, viz., that the seer has expressed the ‘Logos’ idea itself in its highest meaning.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rev 3:14-22 . The epistle to the church at Laodicea.
Laod. in Phrygia, so called after Laodice, the wife of King Antiochus II. (formerly Diospolis, then Rhoas), reckoned by Tacitus [1536] among the “renowned cities of Asia,” a rich manufacturing and commercial city, [1537] lay east of Ephesus, south-east of Philadelphia, in the neighborhood of Colosse, [1538] on the river Lycus, and hence called, in distinction from other places of the same name, . , or, more accurately, on the river Caprus, which, flowing into the Lycus, is received by the Meander. The ruins of ancient L. are found at the present unimportant town of Eski-Hissar. [1539] Already at the time of the Apostle Paul, [1540] a Christian church existed at L. A bishop and martyr at L., Sagaris, in the year 170 A.D., is mentioned by Eusebius, H. E. , iv. 26, v. 24; but even Archippus [1541] is already named as bishop. [1542] Each of these has been regarded the “angel” of the church; and Hengstenb. immediately afterwards in the expression . . , Rev 3:14 , discovers an allusion to the name of Arch -ippus as the most influential elder at Laodicea. [1543]
According to Col 2 , Paul had the same care for the church at Laod. as for that at Colosse, [1544] since these neighboring churches were exposed in like manner to certain Judaizing, and at the same time theosophizing (gnosticizing), erroneous doctrines. Of these there is no immediate trace in the Apoc. epistles. [1545] But, on the contrary, the lukewarmness and proud self-sufficiency and self-righteousness of the church are rejected. Perhaps the state of affairs is to be regarded in such a way, that, while the peculiar gnosticizing aberration was averted from the church by the “conflict” of the Apostle Paul, yet that this, scarcely without the influence of its own riches, and of the entire tone of worldly culture and worldly enjoyment prevailing in a wealthy commercial city, had occurred in a worldly way, in which, on the one hand, the candid confession of the Lord, always opposing worldliness in warm words and zealous conduct, was missed, while, on the other hand, the trust in a certain external inoffensiveness manifested itself as an arrogant self-righteousness, which even before [1546] was in another way to be dreaded.
[1536] Ann ., xiv. 27.
[1537] Hence Tacitus reports: “In the same year (62) Laodicea, being overthrown by an earthquake, without any aid from us, but by its own strength, recovered.” Cf. on Rev 3:1-6 .
[1538] Cf. Col 2:1 ; Col 4:13 sq.
[1539] Cf. Winer, Rwb .
[1540] Cf. Col. in various places.
[1541] Col 4:17 .
[1542] Const. Apost ., viii. 46.
[1543] Concerning the Easter controversy at Laodicea, in the time of Sagaris, cf. G. E. Steitz: “Die Diff. der Oec. u. d. Kleinasiaten in der Paschafeier,” Stud. u. Kritik ., 1856, pp. 769, 778 sqq.
[1544] Cf. also Col 4:16 .
[1545] On the contrary, Vitr., p. 161.
[1546] Cf. Col 2:18 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2501
EPISTLE TO LAODICEA
Rev 3:14-16. 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.
WHEREVER the leading truths of Christianity are maintained and professed, there may be said to be a Church of Christ. But it is too often found, that the angels or ministers of such Churches go on in the external exercise of their functions, without ever feeling the influence of the truth upon their own souls, or stimulating their people to high and heavenly attainments. Thus it was with the Church at Laodicea: the pastor and the flock had shamefully degenerated from their former experience; and were resting in a state worse than any other of the Churches in Asia; a state wherein their Lord could see nothing to approve, but every thing to condemn. Having occasion to testify against them in so severe a manner, our Lord described himself precisely in such terms as the occasion required. Being about to declare what their inward experience was, as opposed to their outward appearance and profession, he spake of himself as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, whose testimony could not be controverted or questioned: he spake of himself, also, as the Beginning, that is, the Efficient Cause, or Ruler and Governor [Note: .], of the creation of God; who, having all things at his disposal, would with irresistible power execute all that his wisdom had decreed, and his lips had spoken. Such being his perfections, he could not be deceived, and would not be mocked.
In all of this we are interested, even as they; being alike bound to submit to his reproofs, and to dread his displeasure. Bearing in mind, then, what a glorious Being we have for our Judge, let us, with becoming reverence, consider,
I.
His reproof of that lukewarm Church
Hear his testimony respecting them
[I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. Doubtless there was amongst them a form of godliness: but they were altogether destitute of its power [Note: 2Ti 3:5.]. They would so far maintain religion, as to keep up a fair character before men; but not so regard it, as to approve themselves to God. If only they had a name to live, it was all that they felt any concern about [Note: ver. 1.]. In all the sublimer exercises of piety they were habitually and wilfully deficient. As for delight in God, and zeal for his glory, they sought not any such attainments. They had fixed for themselves a far lower standard, which required little, if any, exertion on their part; and beyond that they had no desire to advance.]
In just accordance with this was the judgment he denounced against them
[Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. The terms here used to express the Saviours indignation against them are doubtless strong, and, to our refined notions, offensive. But they declare precisely the lothing and abhorrence which such professors excite in the bosom of a holy God. In truth, if we justly viewed the sinfulness of sin, and estimated with any degree of accuracy its utter malignity, we should feel, that no terms whatever can be too strong to express its odiousness, and the abhorrence in which it must of necessity be held by God, not only when it is manifested in a way of gross excesses, but when it appears even in a way of secret defect.]
From this address to the Church of Laodicea, we shall do well to consider,
II.
The instruction which it conveys to us
We must remember, that in every epistle we are called upon to hear, with self-application, what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.
In this reproof, then, we are distinctly taught,
1.
That the religion of the world is hateful to God
[The world, especially the more sober and thoughtful part of it, approves and applauds religion, when carried to a certain extent. But it is the external part of religion alone that commends itself to the unregenerate man. That which is really spiritual and heavenly, is rather to him an object of disgust. A carnal man will say, Cast not off all religion: be not cold, and regardless of all sense of duty to your God: but, on the other hand, lay not religion too much to heart, neither be hot after it, as is the manner of some, who can scarcely speak or think of any thing else. Take a proper medium between these extremes, being neither overmuch righteous, nor overmuch wicked [Note: Ecc 7:16-17.]. Avoid equally what has the character of profaneness, and that excessive attention to divine things which borders on enthusiasm. Moderation is that which you must aim at; even such a moderation, as, whilst it satisfies God, will give no offence to man. But what says God to this? O brethren! far different from this is the standard which God approves; or, rather I should say, it is the very reverse of this. Lukewarmness is that which God abhors, yea, so abhors it, that nothing can be so offensive to the stomach of a man, as that is to him. He even declares,]
2.
That, in some respects, it is worse than a total want of all religion
[Beyond all doubt, morality is in itself better than immorality, and an outward respect for religion better than down-right impiety and profaneness. But still, when our Lord says, I would thou wert cold or hot, he must be understood to say, that, on the whole, either extreme would have been preferable to the medium they had chosen. And this is true: for,
A mere formal religion is more dishonourable to God than open irreligion; because it is understood by all the world as intimating, that such a measure of service is, in our opinion, all that God deserves, and all that he requires; and that not even the love of God, in redeeming our souls by the blood of his dear Son, merits at our hands any better return than this. The ungodly mans life never has any such construction put upon it.
A mere formal religion, also, is more injurious to our fellow-creatures: for it says to every one who beholds us, This is the way to heaven: this is the precise path, in which, if you walk, you will attain salvation. An ungodly mans life conveys no such sentiment to those around him. Nobody looks to him for a pattern; and therefore nobody is deceived by him: but by the formal or hypocritical professor the world are stumbled, when they see how little good is effected by religion: and weak Christians are kept back from aspiring after higher attainments.
A mere formal religion is yet further more fatal to our own souls.A man without any religion is open to conviction; and, if convinced of sin, will gladly accept the remedy provided for him in the Gospel: whereas a lukewarm professor is satisfied with what he has attained, and will not be persuaded that he needs any further progress.
Thus you perceive that the world and God are at issue upon this point: the world approving of no religion but that which God hates; and God approving of none but that which the world abhors. God says, It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing [Note: Gal 4:18.]. The world, on the contrary, says, Be as zealously affected in worldly pursuits as you will; but never carry your zeal into religion: in every thing that relates to God and to your souls, moderation and not zeal must direct you. In confirmation of this, the world says, Seek to enter in at the strait gate, and all will be well: but God warns us to the contrary, saying, Strive to enter in; for many shall seek, and not be able [Note: Luk 13:24.]. In a word, the world think it better to have no religion at all, than to be wholly under its power; and God accounts it better to have none, than such as does not engage and call into activity all the powers of the soul.]
Let me then entreat you, brethren,
1.
To examine the state of your souls before God
[You find that these persons, who were so reproved, thought themselves rich and increased with goods, and in need of nothing [Note: ver. 17.], Beware lest ye also be led away by a similar delusion. Try yourselves, not by the worlds standard, but Gods. To what purpose will it be to be applauded by man, if God condemn? or what need you regard the judgment of man, if God approve? Look into the Scriptures, and see, Which amongst the prophets did the world approve? or which amongst the Apostles? or when did they approve even Christ himself? The zeal and piety of these were objects of offence to the world, and to none more than to the self-righteous Pharisees: and, if your religion be such as the world approves, you need no other evidence that you are yet in a state offensive to God, and fatal to your souls. God requires the heart [Note: Pro 23:26.]; and will be satisfied with nothing less. A divided heart he abhors [Note: Hos 10:2.]. See to it, then, that you give up yourselves to him without reserve; and let nothing under heaven interfere with your duty to your God.
Yet let me not be mistaken, as recommending enthusiasm. No; brethren, I would be as averse to enthusiasm as any; and would cry out against it as loudly as any. Enthusiasm consists in following some conceits of our own, without duly attending to the word of God. Against that I would guard you, with all my might. But the world condemns all vital and experimental religion as enthusiasm: and by this device they seek to justify their own supineness. Be not ye, however, kept back by them; but, in obedience to the written word, and in dependence upon divine grace, endeavour to serve your God, as God himself is serving you, with your whole hearts, and with your whole souls [Note: Jer 32:41.].]
2.
To consider what your feelings will be when The True and Faithful Witness, the Judge of quick and dead, shall call you to his tribunal
[Will you not then wish that you had followed the Lord fully? Will you not then have far different sentiments about religion, from those which the Christian world at large approve? And will it not be a matter of deep regret to you, that you feared man more than God, and obeyed man rather than God? Do but conceive what your feelings will be, when the great Author and Governor of the universe shall execute upon you the judgment threatened, and cast you out, with the abhorrence which his word has so emphatically declared. Remember, I pray you, it is not gross sin alone that will bring this judgment upon you: no; it is lukewarmness: yes, though ye have been ever so observant of outward duties, if your heart have not been in them, ye are not accepted of your God. To what purpose will any man run, or strive, or fight, if he do not put forth all his strength, and exert himself to the uttermost to gain the prize? So, then, must ye be fervent in spirit, while serving the Lord [Note: Rom 12:11.], if ever ye would receive from him the crown of righteousness which fadeth not away [Note: 2Ti 4:8.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(14) 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; (15) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (17) 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: (18) 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. (19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (20) 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. (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. (22) He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
We are here brought acquainted with the Lord’s Epistle to the seventh Church, Laodicea. We have a certain account of this Church in the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians; for he thrice makes mention of it, Col 2:1 ; Col 4:13 and Col 4:15 . Its situation was in the province of Asia. Like all the former, it is occupied at present by the Turks. If, as this Epistle is placed last in point of order, it be thereby meant to say, its period will be last, and succeed the Church of Philadelphia; We may generally learn from it, that the glorious spiritual reign of Christ, during the Philadelphian-state, will be succeeded with an awful lukewarm, and lifeless condition, under this Laodicean; and afford a striking display of the Lou’s grace, and their undeservings.
The Lord opens this Epistle, as he hath all the foregoing, with ushering in his message with the proclamations of his sovereignty and power. He here calls himself the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Now all these are distinguishing names, belonging only to the Son of God; as God in the first of them, and as God-Man Mediator in the two last. The Old Testament scripture, Isa 65:16 , declares, that whosoever blesseth himself in the earth, shall bless himself in the Amen; that is, the God of truth and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the Amen. that is, the God of truth. Everyone knows, that is acquainted with the original, that this is the rendering of it. Now, in the great acts of blessing, or appealing for the confirmation of truth, these distinguishing acts belong only to God. And hence Christ, when calling himself Amen, plainly proves his Godhead, But the faithful and true witness, and the beginning of the creation of God, are features of character which belong to him, as God-Man Mediator. And by both these, he hath demonstrated his twofold nature, most plainly and blessedly. If the Reader will turn to Col 1:15 , and following verses, and the Poor Man’s Commentary thereupon; it will supersede the necessity of my enlarging, upon them, in this place.
Jesus having opened his epistle to the Church of Laodicea with the glories of his names and authority, next begins to speak on the subject for which he sent the message to the Church. And, in the description which the Lord hath given of the state of this Church, it is difficult to know which to admire most, the Lord’s compassion, or their awful degeneracy. Considered as the last Church which Christ would have upon earth, it is truly distressing. Most of the former had spots upon them, but this of Laodicea was over-run with a gangrene. And, what made it, if possible, yet more awful, she is represented as speaking peace to herself, as needing nothing; while, in Christ’s eye, she was everything the reverse, and drenched in the deepest poverty. Reader! how oft have I seen in sick rooms, and dying chambers, deceptions of this kind, both spiritually and bodily. It is indeed no uncommon thing in life, by reason of this self-deception, for those who have the spots of death upon them, to be talking of a speedy recovery. And, while every looker-on, but themselves, beholds death approaching, the poor unconscious man himself believes it not, till he drops into eternity. And what it is by the body, so is it by the soul! But, oh! how much more horrible! to behold a sinner without a single work of grace upon his soul; no sense of sin, no knowledge of salvation, ignorant of the plague of his own heart, ignorant of the love and grace of God, a stranger to the Person, work, righteousness, and blood shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ; and, with respect to the regenerating mercy of God the Spirit, as it concerns himself, he hath not so much as heard; whether there be any Holy Ghost! Reader! how readest thou? What think you of these things?
It appears from this message to the Church of the Laodiceans, that, notwithstanding the great mass, of the people, who professed to be apart in the visible Church, were in this awful state; and concerning whom Jesus declared, that he would spue them out of his mouth; yet the Lord had a people among them, for whom he sent this Epistle, and to whom he gave counsel, to buy of him gold and white raiment, and eye-salve. There is somewhat very sweet and endearing in this counsel of Jesus, who is the Wonderful counsellor, and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Isa 9:6 ; Col 2:3 . It holds forth to my view, so very interesting an account of the wisdom, grace, and loveliness of Jesus, that I would beg the Reader’s indulgence to dwell a moment upon it.
By gold tried in the fire, can mean no other than Christ himself. He hath been tried, indeed, in the fire of every exercise, when for his people he bore the sins and sorrows of his redeemed, in his own body, on the tree. As the Church’s Surety, he stood exposed to the fire of God’s wrath as a burnt-offering; and all the fiery darts of Satan, which in the days of his temptation he endured. And, by white raiment, we may well conceive, the Lord means that spotless robe of righteousness, which on the cross he wrought out, for the clothing all his people. And by the eye-salve to anoint the eyes of his spiritually blind, can mean no other than the unction of the Holy Ghost, by which, in regenerating grace, in the new birth, and in divine teaching, the Church are brought to know all things, 1Jn 2:271Jn 2:27 . And it is not the smallest beauty of this scripture, in the counsel of Christ, that what Jesus calls to buy of him, means without money and without price. It is all a free gift, free grace, free love. And he that counsels his people thus to buy, gives them the disposition how to buy; namely, coming to him to receive, not to give. The precious things Jesus sells are too precious for purchase. If a man would give all the substance of his house for this love of God in Christ, it would utterly be contemned, Son 8:7 . Moreover: these incalculably great blessings, have all been purchased before, by Jesus himself, and with no less a price than that of his own blood. So that, as he bought them for his people, so he counsels them to come and buy of him, in this unusual way of buying; not only without money, but without anything; neither credit, nor promise, nor deserving. Was there ever heard of such a free grace market as this? Reader! Shall you and I take the counsel of this wonderful Counsellor? Shall we seek Him, as our true riches? Accept his white raiment for our only covering before God, for acceptance? And shall we bless him, for the Unction of his Holy Spirit, in anointing our eyes, to behold thereby, our nothingness, and his All-sufficiency? Shall we hesitate to accept the free gift, and the free grace of God in Christ Jesus? Shall we indeed, be so proud, as rather to purchase, than receive free, rather come before God in bur rags, than in the robe of Jesus righteousness? And all this, at a time when we know, and are told, that Jesus IS too rich to need anything of us; and his only motive for selling in the way he doth, is to show us, that be needs not us, but that our blessedness he hath in view, and will thereby promote his own glory in our happiness?
This verse, of Jesus telling his Church of his love, in rebukes and chastenings, comes in very blessedly after the former; because, whatever exercises the Lord calls his people to, he will enable them to bear up under: and, having given them gold tried in the fire, and white raiment, and eye-salve, meaning himself, with all his graces, and gifts, and righteousness, in the Holy Ghost; afflictions in the world ought not to be regarded. Indeed, they are so many sweet and precious love-tokens of his favor, Jas 1:12Jas 1:12 .
I admire the love-calls of Christ; and the method here spoken of, by which Jesus makes them known to his people. It is a sweet verse indeed, of the Lord Jesus, in which, as we commonly say, every word tells. The Son of God a Petitioner at the heart of his people. And the account is ushered in, as it well may, with a behold! A note of admiration, that Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth, should thus ask an entrance! Moreover: where is he? He saith, I stand at the door and knock. Marvellous condescension! Jesus stands without! He that by right of creation, redemption, marriage, purchase, conquests, grace, might command all gates to open at his approach, is nevertheless an humble suitor, and stands without. Oh! must not everyone that hears of such grace, or that is conscious of such unparalleled mercy, be constrained to cry out, with one of old: Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without, Gen 24:31 .
But, observe not only the Redeemer’s posture, but the Redeemer’s method, to gain admission. He knocks at the door of our heart. And how is this done? Oh! who shall count over, or sum up, all the love-calls of Christ. By his word, by ordinances, by means of grace, by afflictions, wants, sicknesses, sorrows, bereaving providences in our friends, the near prospect, as it should seem, of death to ourselves; the Lord knocks, and knocks again and again, and rings loud peals through all the chambers of our consciences; all which we totally disregard, hear, but turn from: neither can the Lord, by soothing or by threatening, by judgments or by mercies, have the least effect upon our stony hearts, until He himself put in his hand by the hole of the door, opened to his own entrance, and caused our bowels to be moved for him. So said the Church? of old! And so, blessed be God, I know, Son 5:2-4 . Reader! what saith your heart to these things? Have you known Jesus at the door? Have you heard his calls? Hath he made you willing in the day of his power? Psa 110:3 .
Let some child of God, that. knows what supping with Jesus means, describe those words of the Redeemer. For, though I trust I know well what it is; yet, sure I am, angels pare not competent to describe it. The Holy Ghost hath taught the Church to tell the people somewhat of it, in her love songs, when she describes Jesus as her Husband, bringing her into his banqueting house, and his banner over her was love; Son 2:4 . but, oh! how far short all language is, to convey the full meaning of such unequalled joy? Our poor, cold, and lifeless nature, by reason of that body of sin and death we carry about with us, renders us but too often insensible to the visits of Jesus. Often he comes, looks in at the window, shows himself at the lattices of ordinances; and we, alas! sometimes hardly glance at him, before our thoughts run away to other objects. But, very mire I am, if our souls were but more alive to the visits of Jesus, we should find that this promise of Jesus would be often fulfilled, and night by night He would come with such love, and bring of that love with him, which is better than wine to make the feast with, and in such fulness, as to be both our company, our food, our bread, and our wine, Son 5:1 .
I Must not close our view of this Epistle, before that I have first taken notice of what the Lord Jesus hath said of his throne, and of his Father’s throne. 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. I pray the Reader to observe the distinction which is here made, in what is said of these thrones. The throne of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the throne of the essential Godhead. Here, on this throne, none but God himself in his threefold character of Person sits. Nothing created can possibly ascend here. But there is another throne, namely, the Mediatorial throne. And this belongs to Christ, as God-Man. And Jesus, having married our nature, and thereby having brought that nature into union with himself, brings his redeemed into a participation of this throne. Therefore, Christ saith, To him that overcometh, that is, to everyone truly regenerated by the Holy Ghost, whom God my Father hath given to me, and whom I have betrothed to myself, and redeemed by my blood and righteousness; having thus overcome sin and Satan, he shall sit with me on my Mediatorial throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne of Godhead.
Reader! Once more, as we close this Chapter, and with it the Lord’s Epistles to the Churches, we are reminded of the hearing ear. He that hath an ear! Lord, give the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, that we may hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14 22 .] THE EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA. And to the angel (not, the bishop or ruler, see on ch. Rev 1:20 ) of the church in Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen (see ref. Isa. Christ is the Amen, inasmuch as His words shall never pass away, but shall find certain ratification. This, and not the particular case which is treated in ref. 2 Cor., seems to be the reference here, where not the ratification of promises merely, but general fidelity and certainty are concerned: as Areth [64] , in Catena, , , . That expression is illustrative of this, but this takes the wider range. Zllig has imagined that the title here owes its occurrence to this being the last among the Seven Epistles: but this probably is mere fancy), the faithful and true (on , see above, Rev 3:7 ) witness (there does not seem in this title to be any allusion to the prophecies which are about to follow in ch. 4 ff. as some (Grot., De Wette) have imagined. Far rather does it substantiate the witness borne in the Epistle itself, as we have seen in the case of the other introductions. See a lengthened notice of the title in Trench, p. 181 f.), the beginning of the creation of God (= , ref. Col., where see note, as also Bleek on the Hebrews, vol. ii. 1, p. 43 note. In Him the whole creation of God is begun and conditioned: He is its source and primary fountain-head. The mere word would admit the meaning that Christ is the first created being: see Gen 49:3 ; Deu 21:17 ; and Pro 8:22 . And so the Arians here take it, and some who have followed them: e. g. Castalio,” chef d’uvre:” “omnium Dei operum excellentissimum atque primum:” and so Ewald and Zllig. But every consideration of the requirements of the context, and of the Person of Christ as set forth to us in this book, is against any such view. Others, as Calov., Bengel, Whitby, al., make = , which is impossible: as it is also to interpret of the new spiritual creation, the church, as Ribera, Corn.-a-lap., Grot., Wetst., al. There can be little doubt that is to be taken in that pregnant sense in which we have it, e. g., in Wis 12:16 , , Wis 14:27 , : and in the Gospel of Nicodemus, p. ii. cap. vii. Tischdf. Ev. Apoc. p. 307, where Satan is said to be , viz. the incipient cause. So Andr [65] , Areth [66] in Catena ( ), Lyra, Vitr., Wolf, Stern, Hengst., De Wette, Ebrard, Dsterd., al. The latter asks the questions, “How could Christ write if it were only this present Epistle, if he were himself a creature? How could every creature in heaven and earth adore him, if he were one of themselves (cf. ch. Rev 19:10 )? We need only think of the appellation of our Lord as the and (ch. Rev 22:13 ; cf. Rev 1:8 ) in its necessary fulness of import, and we shall see that in the lies the necessity of his being the of the Creation, as in the that of his coming to bring the visible creation to an end”): I know thy works, that (see above, Rev 3:1 , where the construction is the same: I have thy whole course of life before me, and its testimony is, that ) thou art neither cold nor hot (the peculiar use of the similitude of physical cold and heat here, makes it necessary to interpret the former of the two somewhat differently to its common acceptation: so that while , from (cf. , Rom 12:11 ), keeps its meaning of fervent , warm, and earnest in the life of faith and love, cannot here mean “dead and cold,” as we say of the listless and careless professor of religion: for this is just what these Laodiceans were, and what is expressed by below. So that we must, so to speak, go farther into coldness for , and take it as meaning, not only entirely without the spark of spiritual life, but also and chiefly, by consequence, openly belonging to the world without, and having no part nor lot in Christ’s church, and actively opposed to it. This, as well as the opposite state of spiritual fervour, would be an intelligible and plainly-marked condition: at all events, free from that danger of mixed motive and disregarded principle which belongs to the lukewarm state inasmuch as a man in earnest, be he right or wrong, is ever a better man than one professing what he does not feel.
[64] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . X. 2
[65] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . VI.
[66]
This necessity of interpretation here has been much and properly pressed by some of the later Commentators (De Wette, and more clearly still, Dsterd.), but was by the older ones very generally missed, and the coldness interpreted of the mere negative absence of spiritual life. So Andr [67] , Areth [68] in Catena, , : Grot., “qui nullam habet evangelii notitiam ac proinde nec ullos motus christianos:” so Bengel, Ebrard, and many others. There have been some singular interpretations, e. g. that of Lyra, “ frigidus , devitans transgressiones pn timore:” of Ansbert, “quia nimirum ille eos glaciali quodammodo more constringit, qui dixit, ‘Sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus aquilonis.’ Aquilo itaque valde frigidissimus ventus,” &c.: of Hengstenberg, who regards both hot and cold as spoken of Christ’s servants in relation to Christ, and cold as equivalent to poor in spirit, conscious of one’s own coldness and desire for warmth. Any thing more opposed to the context cannot be imagined): would that (reff., for both indic. and opt. usages) thou wert cold or hot: so (see ref. It expresses the actual relation of facts to the wish just expressed, as not fulfilling it: = “quod cum non ita fiat”) because thou art lukewarm ( , , Galen. It is one of the many derivatives from , to melt), and neither hot nor cold, I shall soon spue thee out of my mouth ( , . Areth [69] in Catena. The is a mild expression, carrying with it a possibility of the determination being changed, dependently on a change in the state of the church).
[67] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . VI.
[68]
[69] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . X. 2
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 3:14-22 . The message for Laodicea, where a church existed by 60 A.D. (Col 4:16 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Rev 3:14 . Jesus is the Amen because he guarantees the truth of any statement, and the execution of any promise, made by himself. He is consequently the faithful and true witness , whose counsel and rebuke (Rev 3:18-19 ) however surprising and unwelcome, are therefore to be laid to heart as authoritative. A faithful witness is one who can be trusted never to misrepresent his message, by exaggeration or suppression, ( practically = as often, since a real witness is naturally a truthful and competent one) his veracity extending not only to his character but to the contents of his message. In point of sincerity and unerring insight (as opposed to “false” in both senses of the term), Jesus is the supreme moral critic; the church is the supreme object of his criticism. He is also absolutely trustworthy, and therefore his promises are to be believed (Rev 3:20-21 ), or rather God’s promises are assured and realised to men through him ( cf. . . in 2MMal 2:11 ). Compare the fine Assyrian hymn of Ishtar (Jastrow, p. 343): “Fear not the mind which speaks to thee comes with speech from me, withholding nothing. Is there any utterance of mine that I addressed to thee, upon which thou couldst not rely?” (also, Eurip. Ion 1537). The resemblance of . . ., to a passage in Colossians is noteworthy as occurring in an open letter to the neighbouring church of Laodicea (Philonic passages in Grill, pp. 106 110). Here the phrase denotes “the active source or principle of God’s universe or Creation” ( , as in Greek philosophy and Jewish wisdom-literature, = origin), which is practically Paul’s idea and that of Joh 1:3 (“the Logos idea without the name Logos,” Beyschlag). This title of “incipient cause” implies a position of priority to everything created; he is the first in the sense that he is neither creator (a prerogative of God in the Apocalypse), nor created, but creative. It forms the most explicit allusion to the pre-existence of Jesus in the Apocalypse, where he is usually regarded as a divine being whose heavenly power and position are the outcome of his earthly suffering and resurrection: John ascribes to him here (not at Rev 12:5 , as Baldensperger, 85, thinks) that pre-existence which, in more or less vital forms, had been predicated of the messiah in Jewish apocalyptic ( cf. En. xlviii.). This pre-existence of messiah is an extension of the principle of determinism; God foreordained the salvation itself as well as its historical hour. See the Egyptian hymn: “He is the primeval one, and existed when as yet nothing existed; whatever is, He made it after He was. He is the father of beginnings. God is the truth, He lives by Truth, He lives upon Truth, He is the king of Truth.” The evidence for the pre-existence of messiah in Jewish Christian literature is examined by Dr. G. A. Barton, Journ. Bibl. Lit. 1902, pp. 78 91. Cf. Introd. 6.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 3:14-22
14″To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15’I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”
Rev 3:14 “The Amen” This is an allusion to a title of YHWH, “the God of the Amen,” in Isa 65:16. The term “Amen” is a form of the OT word for “believe” or “faith” (cf. Gen 15:16; Hab 2:4). It usually emphasized faithfulness or trustworthiness (cf. Rev 1:6; 2Co 1:20). See Special Topic at Rev 1:6.
“the faithful and true Witness” This may be another phrase from chapter 1 (cf. Rev 1:5). In the Septuagint both of these adjectives are used to refer to YHWH. It is possible that emeth, which is the Hebrew word for “faith,” “believe” or “trust,” was translated as pistos (faithful) and altheia (truth). These two Greek terms are used often in Revelation for Jesus (cf. Rev 3:14; Rev 19:11; Rev 21:5; Rev 22:6).
NASB, NKJV”the Beginning of the creation of God”
NRSV”the origin of God’s creation”
TEV”the origin of all that God has created”
NJB”the Principle of God’s creation”
This is an allusion to both Gen 1:1 and Joh 1:1. The terms “beginning” (Hebrew, bereshith) and “origin” (Greek, arch) have two connotations: (1) start or (2) origin, source.
This phrase was used in the Arian/Athanasius (Trinitarian) controversy of the fourth century and is an allusion to Pro 8:22-31. Wisdom was YHWH’s first creation and through wisdom all else was created. This was probably the origin of John’s use of “logos” in his Gospel (cf. Joh 1:1). This is one of the strongest passages on the pre-existence of Christ (cf. Joh 1:1; Joh 8:57-58; 2Co 8:4; Php 2:6-7; Col 1:17), and also of Christ being the Father’s agent in creation (cf. Joh 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:16; Col 1:15; Col 1:18; Heb 1:2).
SPECIAL TOPIC: ARCH
Rev 3:15 “you are neither cold nor hot” This may be an allusion to the lukewarm water that the people of this city had to drink because of the local hot springs. A similar charge is made against the church of Sardis (cf. Rev 3:1).
Rev 3:16 “I will spit you out of My mouth” The warnings of Rev 2:5; Rev 3:3; Rev 3:16-17 are shocking when it is realized that they are addressed to the visible churches of the first century. This is not the loss of salvation, but the loss of effective ministry (cf. Rev 3:19; Heb 12:5-13).
Rev 3:17 “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'” Rev 3:17-18 are a historical allusion to Laodicea as a center of banking, a center for dyed wool, and a center for eye salve. The tragedy of their prosperity was that they thought they had so much when they had so little (cf. Rev 3:1).
SPECIAL TOPIC: WEALTH
Rev 3:18 “buy from Me” This may be an allusion to Isa 55:1-3, where God’s offer of salvation was free, but described as a cost.
“white garments” See note at Rev 3:4.
“that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed” In the OT nakedness was a sign of defeat, judgment, and poverty.
Rev 3:19 “I reprove” This Greek term elegch is used in the sense of “to expose and thereby to heal or correct” (cf. Joh 3:20; Eph 5:11-14).
“and discipline” Being disciplined by God is a sign that we are members of His family (cf. Job 5:17; Pro 3:12; Psa 94:12; Heb 12:6).
“be zealous” This is a Present active imperative. It is from the same word root as “hot” or “boiling” (zestos) used in Rev 3:15-16. Knowing and serving God must be a flaming passion and lifestyle.
“and repent” This is an aorist active imperative. There is a recurring insistence throughout these seven letters that Christians, not just unbelievers, must repent and return to Christ for maturity, stability, and joy (cf. Rev 2:5; Rev 2:16; Rev 2:22; Rev 3:3; Rev 3:19). Repentance is a lifestyle, not only an initial action!
Rev 3:20 “I stand at the door and knock” This is a Perfect active indicative, “I stand and continue to stand at the door” followed by a present active indicative “and continue to knock.” Although this church received no word of praise, it did receive a warm invitation. This is not the invitation to become a Christian, but rather an invitation for the church members to return to vital fellowship with Christ. This verse is often used out of context to refer to evangelism.
The metaphor of “a door” was used in the Gospels (cf. Mar 13:28-29; Luk 12:36) as a way of referring to the nearness of Christ’s coming. See Special Topic: Door at Rev 3:7.
“if anyone hears My voice and opens the door” This is a Third class conditional sentence implying potential but not certain action. In many parts of the world knocking is accompanied by a verbal greeting. Notice the volitional element; the person/church must respond and open the door. This is the covenantal aspect of all of God’s relationships with humans. He takes the initiative, He sets the agenda, but humans must respond. Also, notice that the response is not just initial but continual. Salvation is not a product, but a lifestyle relationship. It has its ups and downs, but the existential fellowship is sure!
“I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” This is an allusion to the peace offering (cf. Leviticus 3, , 7), a time of fellowship where God symbolically ate with the offerer. Others see this as a reference to the eschatological Messianic banquet.
The term used here for a meal is the one used for the meal at the end of the day, which was the major time of family fellowship and companionship. In the East eating has always been a sign of covenant, friendship, and fellowship.
Rev 3:21 “I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne,” This is a powerful image of intimate fellowship and inclusion. There are many allusions in the NT to believers’ reigning with Christ (cf. Rev 2:26-27; Luk 22:30; Mat 19:28; 1Co 6:2 ff; 2Ti 2:12; Rev 20:4). Rev 22:5 implies Christians’ eternal reign with Christ. See Special Topic on Reigning in the Kingdom of God at Rev 5:10.
“as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” It is wonderful to know that Jesus has already overcome the world (cf. Joh 16:33; Eph 1:21-22) and that He is already seated at the Father’s right hand (cf. Eph 1:20; 1Jn 2:1 and Rev 22:1) and that He wants us to join Him in His victory!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
of, &c. = in (Greek. en) Laodicea (an important city of Phrygia, a few miles west of Colosse. Rebuilt by Antiochus II, and named after his wife, Laodice).
the Amen. A Hebrew word transliterated. See 2Co 1:20 and p. 1511.
faithful. App-150.
Witness. See p. 1511.
beginning. App-172. Compare Pro 8:22-31. Col 1:15-19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14-22.] THE EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA. And to the angel (not, the bishop or ruler, see on ch. Rev 1:20) of the church in Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen (see ref. Isa. Christ is the Amen, inasmuch as His words shall never pass away, but shall find certain ratification. This, and not the particular case which is treated in ref. 2 Cor., seems to be the reference here, where not the ratification of promises merely, but general fidelity and certainty are concerned: as Areth[64], in Catena, , , . That expression is illustrative of this, but this takes the wider range. Zllig has imagined that the title here owes its occurrence to this being the last among the Seven Epistles: but this probably is mere fancy), the faithful and true (on , see above, Rev 3:7) witness (there does not seem in this title to be any allusion to the prophecies which are about to follow in ch. 4 ff. as some (Grot., De Wette) have imagined. Far rather does it substantiate the witness borne in the Epistle itself, as we have seen in the case of the other introductions. See a lengthened notice of the title in Trench, p. 181 f.), the beginning of the creation of God (= , ref. Col., where see note, as also Bleek on the Hebrews, vol. ii. 1, p. 43 note. In Him the whole creation of God is begun and conditioned: He is its source and primary fountain-head. The mere word would admit the meaning that Christ is the first created being: see Gen 49:3; Deu 21:17; and Pro 8:22. And so the Arians here take it, and some who have followed them: e. g. Castalio, chef duvre: omnium Dei operum excellentissimum atque primum: and so Ewald and Zllig. But every consideration of the requirements of the context, and of the Person of Christ as set forth to us in this book, is against any such view. Others, as Calov., Bengel, Whitby, al., make = , which is impossible: as it is also to interpret of the new spiritual creation, the church, as Ribera, Corn.-a-lap., Grot., Wetst., al. There can be little doubt that is to be taken in that pregnant sense in which we have it, e. g., in Wis 12:16, ,-Wis 14:27, : and in the Gospel of Nicodemus, p. ii. cap. vii. Tischdf. Ev. Apoc. p. 307, where Satan is said to be , viz. the incipient cause. So Andr[65], Areth[66] in Catena ( ), Lyra, Vitr., Wolf, Stern, Hengst., De Wette, Ebrard, Dsterd., al. The latter asks the questions, How could Christ write if it were only this present Epistle, if he were himself a creature? How could every creature in heaven and earth adore him, if he were one of themselves (cf. ch. Rev 19:10)? We need only think of the appellation of our Lord as the and (ch. Rev 22:13; cf. Rev 1:8) in its necessary fulness of import, and we shall see that in the lies the necessity of his being the of the Creation, as in the that of his coming to bring the visible creation to an end): I know thy works, that (see above, Rev 3:1, where the construction is the same: I have thy whole course of life before me, and its testimony is, that ) thou art neither cold nor hot (the peculiar use of the similitude of physical cold and heat here, makes it necessary to interpret the former of the two somewhat differently to its common acceptation: so that while , from (cf. , Rom 12:11), keeps its meaning of fervent, warm, and earnest in the life of faith and love, cannot here mean dead and cold, as we say of the listless and careless professor of religion: for this is just what these Laodiceans were, and what is expressed by below. So that we must, so to speak, go farther into coldness for , and take it as meaning, not only entirely without the spark of spiritual life, but also and chiefly, by consequence, openly belonging to the world without, and having no part nor lot in Christs church, and actively opposed to it. This, as well as the opposite state of spiritual fervour, would be an intelligible and plainly-marked condition: at all events, free from that danger of mixed motive and disregarded principle which belongs to the lukewarm state inasmuch as a man in earnest, be he right or wrong, is ever a better man than one professing what he does not feel.
[64] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. X.2
[65] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. VI.
[66] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. X.2
This necessity of interpretation here has been much and properly pressed by some of the later Commentators (De Wette, and more clearly still, Dsterd.), but was by the older ones very generally missed, and the coldness interpreted of the mere negative absence of spiritual life. So Andr[67], Areth[68] in Catena, , : Grot., qui nullam habet evangelii notitiam ac proinde nec ullos motus christianos: so Bengel, Ebrard, and many others. There have been some singular interpretations, e. g. that of Lyra, frigidus, devitans transgressiones pn timore: of Ansbert, quia nimirum ille eos glaciali quodammodo more constringit, qui dixit, Sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus aquilonis. Aquilo itaque valde frigidissimus ventus, &c.: of Hengstenberg, who regards both hot and cold as spoken of Christs servants in relation to Christ, and cold as equivalent to poor in spirit, conscious of ones own coldness and desire for warmth. Any thing more opposed to the context cannot be imagined): would that (reff., for both indic. and opt. usages) thou wert cold or hot: so (see ref. It expresses the actual relation of facts to the wish just expressed, as not fulfilling it: = quod cum non ita fiat) because thou art lukewarm ( , , Galen. It is one of the many derivatives from , to melt), and neither hot nor cold, I shall soon spue thee out of my mouth ( , . Areth[69] in Catena. The is a mild expression, carrying with it a possibility of the determination being changed, dependently on a change in the state of the church).
[67] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. VI.
[68] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. X.2
[69] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. X.2
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 3:14-22
7. LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA
Rev 3:14-22
14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:–See notes on 2:1. Laodicea was located east of Ephesus, near Colosse.
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:–These words refer to Christ. See notes on 1:5. Since the church at Laodicea was “lukewarm,” it was appropriate for Christ to refer to himself as “the faithful and true witness.” This thought is also expressed in the one word “Amen.” In Col 1:16 Christ is referred to as being in the creation with the Father. Hence, it would not be out of place to say that he was the beginner or author of creation. Saying that he was the “beginning of the creation of God” doubtless was intended to impress the Laodiceans with the thought that he had all divine authority to command; hence, obedience was imperatively necessary.
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: would thou wort cold or hot.–As was said to the other churches, the Laodiceans were told that Christ knew their works. For the church at Philadelphia the Lord had only praise; for the Laodiceans, only censure. In describing their spiritual condition he uses three terms–cold, hot, and luke-warm. He declares that they were neither cold nor hot, and expressed the wish that they were one or the other. The comparison here is based upon water at different degrees of temperature. Either hot or cold, it is palatable; being neither –lukewarm–it is nauseating. So the condition of the Laodiceans spiritually was deeply offensive to God. To be hot means that they should have been fervent in their zeal in God’s service. It is easy to understand how that would be better and more pleasing to God than their utter indifference, but just why God would prefer their being cold is not so easily seen; commentators are not agreed on this point, nor exactly on what class is referred to as being in the cold state. Since “cold” and “lukewarm” have about the same significance when used to describe members of the church without zeal for God, it is concluded by some that “cold” refers to those who have made no profession of serving God–the unsaved. But why should one unsaved be preferred to one whose professed Christianity lacks piety, earnestness, and zeal? In short, one who is indifferent, self-satisfied, and heartless? It could not be because it would be finally any better for the individual, for both characters will be lost. The unsaved man might be more easily aroused to realize his lost condition than the self-satisfied Christian could be aroused from his sleep, because of being deceived in thinking himself safe. A more probable reason, however seems to be that the lukewarm Christian will do the church more harm than the unsaved sinner. Inconsistent and hypocritical members of the church exercise a more deadly influence against the truth, and keep more people from obeying the gospel than outright sinners. This is often made evident by those who justify their refusal to enter the church on the ground that they are “better than some in the church.”
16 So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.–This expression, when changed into literal language, means that God will reject such professed Christians. This is plain proof that they are actually no better than those who never entered the church; and, as already suggested, their position renders them more detrimental to it.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; –These words seem to assign a reason why they were lukewarm, and also why Christ urged them to reform. “Riches” may refer to material or spiritual things, or to both. Those rich in material goods usually are unduly self-confident; those who are cold and unconcerned in spiritual things consider that they have enough and do not need anything. Both are self-deceived, as the next expression clearly shows.
and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked:–The saddest thing about the lukewarm Christian is that he does not realize his true condition and the fatal results that will finally come to him. If he did, he would not remain lukewarm. He thinks himself in need of nothing when, in fact, he is poor, blind, naked, wretched, and miserable. He is in a wretchedand pitiable condition, but wholly unconscious of the fact.
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.–The Lord’s counsel here is beautifully impressive. Material things of much value are used to express spiritual lessons. The worth of true Christianity could not be better expressed than by refined gold. White garments are said to be the righteous acts of the saints. (19:8.) We clothe the body for both protection and decency. Righteousness protects the soul against sin and prevents the shameful inconsistency of professing one thing and practicing something else. Eyesalve would suggest that they carefully consider God’s word, applying its teaching to themselves, till they could fully see their pitiable and sinful condition. This would bring them back to a full realization of their true state and bring about a happy reformation.
19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.–Rebuke and chastening are evidences of genuine love, when they are properly given. Of course, divine perfection would prevent the Lord’s giving them improperly. We are told that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,” and that too, “for our profit, that we may he partakers of his holiness.” (Heb 12:6; Heb 12:10.) For that reason he commanded them to be zealous and repent, and the command comes down to all similar characters now. Repentance leads to a change of conduct; the lukewarm person becomes zealous.
20 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.–This language is a touching appeal to impress the necessity of heeding the exhortation in the two preceding verses. It is in striking contrast with the severe rebuke for their coldhearted indifference to the Lord’s service. The lessons taught by the imagery are too evident to be misunderstood. One knocking at a door for admittance indicates the Lord’s appeal to them to give him and his service a place in their hearts. In this he takes the lead. Opening the door or refusing to do so brings out man’s ability and the conditional nature of acceptance with God. Perhaps the custom then was to speak as well as knock upon the door. Yielding to the demand of the voice and opening the door shows man’s willingness to have the Lord for a divine guest. Association at a meal has always indicated friendship. Lukewarm saints renew their spiritual strength when they invite the Lord to become their guest. Eliminating all figures of speech the thought is, by following the Lord’s teaching, we become zealous Christians, which is the lesson of this text.
21 He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne.–As a reward for overcoming–completing the work which the Father guve him to do–Jesus was granted the honor of sitting at God’s right hand as head of the church, Priest and King. (Eph 1:19-23; Heb 8:1; Joh 18:36; Php 2:7-11.) The word “throne” indicates authority, dominion, and power. He was given this position because he overcame. Sitting with God upon his throne means that the Father gave him the right to rule as king. In like manner those who overcame by doing Christ’s commands were to be given authority to rule with him. This faithful Christians do by teaching and practicing his laws by which men are to be governed spiritually. Only in this way can the Lord reign over men. His law has been revealed to the world through the apostles and perpetuated by the teaching and lives of his disciples. He has made no other provision for its dissemination. All faithful Christians, therefore, share with him in ruling through his truth–here called sitting “down with me in my throne.” This is the same truth, from a different view-point, as is expressed when Christ’s disciples are called “the salt of the earth.” (Mat 5:13.) As Christians are agents through whom men are saved (1Ti 4:16), so they are agents through whom Christ reigns. Hence, they sit with him in his throne–that is, rule with him. It is called the Father’s throne because he gave it to Christ; it is Christ’s because he, as a descendant of David, sits upon it; it is David’s (spiritually speaking) because the Savior had to be of his family–the “throne of his father David” being the only one promised him. (Luk 1:32.) In like manner the throne in the final state is that “of God and of the Lamb” (Rev 22:1), yet the rule is then turned back to the Father (1 Cor. 15 24-28.)
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.–See notes on 2:7.
ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS
1. The language of these letters clearly indicates the individual and personal responsibility of man to God. Each congregation received its praise or rebuke, or both, just as its own case required. Even the distinct classes in each congregation were pointed out and held to account for their peculiar sins. The principles that “God is no respecter of persons” (Act 10:34), and that “each one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom_1412), are verified in these letters in a most unmistakable manner.
2. Each letter closes with one or more promises on the condition that the individual “overcome.” This logically implies that these rewards would be lost, if one failed to overcome. This also implies individual ability either to fail or to overcome. The exhortation would be without meaning, if this were not true. The sum of all the rewards mentioned to these churches shows how much one may lose by disobedience. They include so much that no one can be saved who loses them. This will be amply clear, if all of them are written together. In these conditional promises we have the strongest possible argument that Christians may be finally lost; or, that the doctrine, “Once in grace, always in grace,” is not true.
3. In order that the full force of this argument on the possibility of apostasy may appear, the rewards that may be lost by failing to overcome are listed here. They are as follows
1. Privilege to “eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” (Rev 2:7.)
(2) To receive a “crown of life” and not be “hurt of the second death.” (Rev 2:10-11.)
(3) To receive the “hidden manna,” “white stone,” and “new name.” (Rev 2:17.)
(4) To receive authority to rule the nations. (Rev 2:26-27.)
(5) To be “arrayed in white garments,” not have name blotted “out of the book of life,” and be confessed before God and angels. (Rev 3:5.)
(6) To be made a “pillar in the temple of my God” and have the names of God and Christ written upon him. (Rev 3:12.)
(7) To be allowed to sit with Christ in his throne. (Rev 3:21.)
As all these may be lost, how much more would one have to lose to be eternally lost? The answer is, nothing.
Commentary on Rev 3:14-22 by Foy E. Wallace
The letter to the church at Laodicea.-Rev 3:14-22.
1. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God”-Rev 3:14.
The God of Amen means the God of truth, as stated in Deu 7:9 : Know ye therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. The repeated expression the faithful and true witness, refers to the things of the apocalypse -the absolute certainty of all the announcements made by his angels and agents in all of the visions.
The reminder that he is the beginning of the creation of God is the same in substance as that he is Alpha and Omega, meaning that he is the beginning as well as the end, the first as well as the last. It carries the same affirmation as in Joh 1:3, all things were made byhim; and without him was not anything made that was made. It means that in the beginning with God he was the active principle in creation, and is the Lord over all creation by primogeniture right–that is, the exclusive right of inheritance belonging to the firstborn. This right possessed by Jesus Christ is also affirmed by Paul in Heb 1:1-14 : God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds . . . being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. In priority of existence, having been the agent of all creation, he is Lord of the new creation, the whole spiritual realm.
2. Thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot-Rev 3:15-16.
While outward rejection may, in some sense, appear to be preferable to cold profession, it does not seem in harmony with the grace of redemption to make this passage mean that God would rather these Laodiceans had never accepted the gospel at first. The purpose of the comparison is to rebuke lukewarmness, which produces nausea. It means that fervency is a condition of fidelity. Fervent heat (2Pe 3:10) means intense heat; and fervent water is boiling water; and in Rom 12:10, Paul admonishes the members of the body to be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
The Lords aversion to the state of lukewarmness is expressed in the warning I will spew thee out of my mouth. The advocates of the absolute and unconditional security of the believer have appropriated the words of Paul in Eph 1:13, that the believer is sealed with that holy Spirit, to their dogma of the impossibility of apostasy, by claiming that a sealed believer cannot get out. Aside from the fallacy of the argument itself, the Lords statement to the Laodiceans explains how an unfaithful believer does get out–he is spewed out, by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
3. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing-Rev 3:17-19.
Based on this statement the Lord said: I counsel thee. He informed them, with words of severity, that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked– which, without any other words to be added, simply meant that they were in utter spiritual destitution. He recommended, in their own dialect of merchandising, that they buy of him a gold of greater value than their material wealth; and the white raiment of righteousness to clothe their nakedness; so that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear: as yet, their nakedness had not been exposed; it was within their membership. This note of judgment was a warning of the divine exposure of their spiritual nakedness.
To correct their state of spiritual blindness the Lord admonished them to anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see–to get rid of their self-deception. This figurative language, of course, cannot be literally applied. The eyesalve meant spiritual enlightenment, as in Psa 19:8 : The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The gold which the Lord persuaded them to buy meant the raiment of righteousness, as in 1Pe 5:5 : Be clothed with humility; and Rev 7:14 : These are they . . . which washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
These are strong analogies employed by the Lord counselling the Laodiceans to seek the true riches. There were no charges of the evils of error which existed in some of the churches. The Laodiceans professed the truths of the gospel, but with a materialistic apathy which rendered them unconscious of being out of communion with Christ. To assure them of divine love and concern for their restoration, Jesus said: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. The severity of his rebuke was not rejection but a sign of love which seeks to prevent their condition reaching that stage. The mandate, Be zealous and repent, meant the zeal of repentance itself; that it could not be performed in the apathy and passivity of their present attitude. In Mat 12:41, Jesus said that the people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, but in referring to that event in the book of Jonah, it reads: When God saw their works. That is evidently the meaning of the zeal of repentance. It cannot be performed in nonchalance
4. 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”-Rev 3:20.
Here is the note of deep affection in the metaphor of the common meal, which the ancients regarded as a manifestation of fraternal confidence. The old term sup here signifies spiritual communion, which the Lord offered to restore with the Laodiceans. In common parlance today the word fellowship is in vogue.
The remedial import of this high light in the Lords persuasions to Laodicea, is that reconciliation begins with Jesus Christ. He reverses here the order of Mat 7:7 : Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Here the Lord himself knocks, asking that they open unto him. The people of old accompanied their knocking with addressing those inside, in order that they might know who was knocking, and thus whether to open. Jesus here announces himself as the One seeking admission; but he does not force entrance. Here the truth of free moral agency incidentally appears–man can receive or reject divine overtures.
5. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne-Rev 3:21.
Here is the constructive figure of a sitting court to which the faithful would be given admission to sit with Christ in his throne, to be associated with Christ in his spiritual rule. In Rev 2:26 this rule is said to be with a rod of iron, which, as previously stated, means the invincible power of the truth, or gospel of Christ. In 1Ti 2:11-12, the apostle taught Timothy that this rule is in process now, and that reigning with Christ is concurrent with living with him.
This enthronization with Christ simply stated means that as Christians are governed by the rule of Christ, in this compliance with his teaching they become a part of his government. The immediate imagery of this passage therefore is, that the faithful victors over the persecutions, having exemplified obedience to his rule, are seated with Christ the Conqueror in his ruling throne. This picture is culminated in the throne scene of the martyrs Rev 20:4, as shown in the commentary on the verses of that chapter.
Commentary on Rev 3:14-22 by Walter Scott
THE SPIRIT’S ADDRESS TO LAODICEA
(Rev 3:14-22).
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
In the first four churches Christ presents Himself in some part of the character in which He is beheld by the Seer in Rev 1:12-16, but in each of the last three He gives fresh revelations of Himself. The circumstances in these latter are wholly different from those in the earlier churches, and hence the presentation of Christ is in exact keeping with the several closing Church states herein depicted.
Whatever the general condition of the Church may be at any period, Christ never deserts it. When it ceases to be a vessel of testimony for God, a light bearer in darkness, then the sentence of excision (Rev 3:16) is finally executed, but that day, though nearing, has not yet arrived. The Church in its outward testimony for God is owned and recognised, and can be addressed in its Church standing. God has not yet rejected the professing Church, nor should we. We deplore its evils, and reject complicity with iniquity practiced under its shadow, but it is still God’s witness on earth, the pillar and ground of the truth (1Ti 3:15) and the olive tree of testimony (Rom 11:1-36). The unconditional threat and its execution are very different things. The former has been announced; the latter is yet future. Laodicea, representing as it does the last phase of the professing Church, has not yet been publicly disowned (v. 16). Its Church standing is a fact as positive as that of any of the previous churches. Laodicea may have departed in life and practice more than any of the others, but its position before God is unquestionable, and on that ground it is addressed.
The Church in these two chapters is spoken to in its public, professing character as the House of God in which the highest privileges are enjoyed; hence it is the scene of weightiest responsibility and the first subject of divine judgment (1Pe 4:17). The Church, when viewed as the mystical Body of Christ, being the aggregate of all true believers on earth, is necessarily exempt from judgment. Human administration enters largely into the former; whereas the latter is the fruit alone of God’s Holy Spirit. The true and the false may enter the “House.” The true only can enter the “Body.” No real believer need fear being involved in the peremptorily expressed threat of judgment conveyed in verse 16. “Caught up” and “spued out” intimate the respective destiny of the true and the false, of believers and mere professors. This latter being so loathsome to Christ that thorough rejection by Him is the only way in which His holiness can be publicly vindicated.
In the address to Philadelphia there is no reproof. Here there is no praise.
TITLES OF THE DIVINE SPEAKER.
Rev 3:14 “To the angel of the Church in Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” The marginal reading in our English Bibles, “in Laodicea,” is correct, and not that in the text, “the Church of the Laodiceans.” The titles are singularly appropriate to the Church of the last days; they just suit the present Laodicean condition of things. The angel as usual is addressed. The Church standing is thereby recognised. The spiritual condition of this assembly even in Paul’s day, thirty years previously, caused the apostle great mental conflict (Col 2:1). Various causes contributed to this Church’s ruin, the chief of which were pride, material wealth, and self-satisfaction. In these it gloried. How fitting therefore these titles!
(1) “These things saith the Amen.” This is a Hebrew word signifying what is fixed, true, unchangeable. The force of the word may be found in Isa 7:9; Isa 65:16, where the words “believe” and “truth” are literally Amen. Its equivalent in Greek is in our well-known “verily,” duplicated in the Gospel of John, and only there, occurring about twenty-five times. It implies divine certainty. Here, however, it is not employed as in other parts of the sacred volume as an adverb, but its use with the definite article points to another glory, another descriptive title of our blessed Lord. The Church has utterly failed in making good the promises and truth of God. In Christ both are secured. In His Person we have the guarantee that every promise and every truth will be Amened (see also 2Co 1:20).
(2) “The faithful and true Witness.” The highway of the ages is strewn with wreck. Every witness for God, individual and corporate, has failed save One. The Church, so richly endowed with truth and privilege, is the worst offender of any of the witnessing company from Adam downwards. Has it been a faithful custodian of the treasures of divine grace? Is it a true witness to the character of God? Is it the living expression on earth of Jesus Christ, of what He was and is? Alas, no! The Church has shut Him out. Hear its jubilant strain, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” not even of Christ, the Church’s life and glory. He, thus driven out, yet lingers about the door, taking His stand outside. “Behold! ” this wonder of wonders, “I stand at the door and knock,” and such is His attitude to-day. The Church is the most responsible witness which has ever appeared, and it is now a huge wreck. It is being morally ruined, not by open enemies, but by professed friends. Boastful, proud, loaded with wealth, and content while Christ is outside! Such was Laodicea, such is the Church today. She has been neither a faithful nor true witness. But Christ is, and thus once again the heart is relieved as it turns from the wreck and ruin around to Him. What a rest to the spirit! Herein is a firm ground for faith amidst the ecclesiastical upheavings everywhere. Christ is God’s Witness.
(3) “The Beginning of the creation of God.” The creation set up under the headship of Adam has, whether ecclesiastical, social, or governmental, gone from bad to worse. “The corruption of the best thing,” i.e., the Church, “is the worst of all corruptions.” The world seems ready to enter on its last plunge into the vortex of iniquity. Ritualism is working towards popery, and Rationalism towards infidelity. The former system will be headed up, not in the Pope, but in the Antichrist; the latter will be fully represented in a man unnamed in the divine Word, but termed “the beast,” characterized by brute force, a blasphemous, persecuting, murderous personage, inspired by Satan. These two men may be alive now for aught we know, and as Jew and Gentile were united in the crucifixion of our Lord, is it not fitting that the respective forces of Ritualism and Rationalism which are ruining the Church should, when the restraining influences are removed and things are fully developed, be headed up in a Jew and a Gentile? Laodicea is compounded of two Greek words signifying people and righteous, and really intimates the struggle now fiercely raging in every land by the peoples to obtain their rights, real or supposed. The forces of anarchy and order are confronting each other, and soon Europe, if not in a more extended area, will present the grim spectacle of the subversion of all constituted authority, with anarchy and the peoples for a brief season triumphant, turning earth into a pandemonium (Rev 6:12-17), when out of the moral, social, and political chaos a stern hand grasps the helm, with one tyranny exchanged for another, and finally creation is again set under Christ, the beginning of the creation of God (Psa 8:1-9; Eph 1:10-22, etc.). “This very title, therefore, intimates the ruin of the now 6000 years old creation, of which the Church is the last witness. The extensive and magnificent system of things, celestial and terrestrial, animate and inanimate, of which Christ as Man is here termed “the Beginning,” is the creation spoken of in our text. The millennial kingdom is referred to. If, therefore, in the previous titles of the divine Speaker we are turned from the Church to Christ, from its ruined testimony to Him as the Securer of Truth and Promise, and the faithful and true Witness, here our hearts adoringly rest on a scene of ineffable blessedness, on another creation of which Christ is “the Beginning.” (*There are at least four headships ascribed to Christ: (1) Headship of the body (Col 2:19). (2) Headship of the Race (1Co 15:22; 1Co 15:45-49; i.e., those in Christ, Gal 3:28, 2Co 5:17). (3) Headship of Creation (Col 1:15-17; Col 2:10). (4) Headship of every Man (1Co 11:3). United to Him gives the thought of the first; “in Him” is involved in the second; dignity is conveyed in the third; and lordship in the fourth. “The beginning of the creation of God” is a title involving His headship.)
Rev 3:15-16
NAUSEOUS STATE OF THE CHURCH.
Rev 3:15-16 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. Thus because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spue thee out of My mouth.” “I know thy works” is seven times repeated in these addresses according to our English Version, but in the Revised and other critical editions of the Scriptures the formula is omitted in the address to Smyrna and in that to Pergamos. To the angel in Ephesus and Thyatira other items are added to the works of which the Lord says, “I know;” while in the case of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, “I know thy works” refer to the general state and condition of these churches. The pregnant sentence, however, “I know” occurs seven times, being addressed to the angel of each assembly. Omniscience, a divine attribute, is thus seven times affirmed of our Lord. To Philadelphian weakness this assertion of the Lord’s absolute knowledge of that which is unknown to man, yet known to Him, is a truth full of strength. To Laodicea in its luke-warmness, with its show, and boast, and wealth, the all-seeing eye of the Lord searching the recesses of the heart must be an intolerable thought. What the Lord here specially notes is the lukewarm condition of the angel. This last phase of the Church is the worst. Men would find a deeper evil in Thyatira. The Lord declares the most nauseous state to be that into which Laodicea was sunk, a state moreover in which the angel positively gloried. The terms used are “cold” and “hot,” not “dead” and “alive.” Had these latter been employed the truth of being saved or lost might have been in question, but “neither cold nor hot ” is predicated in relation to their state to Him. Total indifference to Christ, not hatred, is implied in the term “lukewarm.” (*”The Lord speaks here only of the condition of those who stand in relation to Himself.” — Hengstenberg. It is not at all the question as to whether the angel was spiritually alive or dead, converted or unconverted, but of the moral state of one standing in a certain accredited relation to the Lord)
We do not hold with some that the lukewarm condition of Laodicea springs out of the Philadelphian state of the Church. Such an interpretation is beset with insuperable difficulty, but, undoubtedly, the coldness and death of Sardis, with the weakness yet warmth of Philadelphia, had left but a feeble impression on the general condition of Laodicea. We take it that the legalism of Thyatira, the moral insensibility of Sardis, and the rejection of the truth and position of Philadelphia, with, of course, other causes, contribute to produce the Laodicean condition of that Church, i.e., absolute indifference to Christ. What can the Lord do with it? Had it been cold, an active position taken up, or hot, as manifesting a measure of spiritual activity, then something might have been done. But an undecided, neutral position towards Christ and the truth is one so hateful that it must be got rid of without delay. The last phase of the Church is its worst. Philadelphia is cheered with the promise, “I come quickly.” Laodicea is threatened with judgment, “I am about to spue thee out of My mouth.” Both promise and threat are presented as at hand. It has been remarked more than once that the last four phases of the Church run on concurrently to the end. The mass in Thyatira and Sardis are involved in the doom pronounced on Laodicea, whilst the remnants in these churches equally share in one distinctive blessing of Philadelphia– “caught up.” The Lord’s Coming is not referred to in the address to Laodicea. Its public repudiation as God’s witness will be effected by the translation of the heavenly saints. In other words, the removal of Philadelphia and the rejection of Laodicea are coincident events, the latter being dependent on the former. Christendom, which commenced its history under the brightest auspices, will close under the darkest cloud which has ever rested on the course of human responsibility.
Rev 3:17
THE PROUD BOAST AND THE LORD’S CONDEMNATION.
Rev 3:17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and am grown rich, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art the (The definite article is inserted by Darby, Kelly, Plumptre, and others.) wretched and the miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Philadelphia has not a word to say for itself. Laodicea has. In fact, in almost every respect these two churches stand out in sharp contrast. “Thou sayest.” There was not only a self-satisfied condition in the Church, but the proud boast of it is here recorded: “Thou sayest, I am rich.” The city could boast of its material wealth, the Church would equally boast of its riches. It has added, moreover, to its wealth: “Am grown rich.” Without doubt the Church in Laodicea had influence, numbers, gifts, showy attainments, intellectual acquirements, and other attractive qualities, and in the possession of these it prided itself. Alas! these things at the expense of spirituality, of a true and fervent love to Christ, can only be regarded as a curse, and must sooner or later, if not repented of, end in judgment. In their own estimation “they had need of nothing.” They had neither heart for Christ nor desire for His presence. They could boast while immediate judgment was announced (v. 16), and Christ the Church’s life and glory was standing outside (v. 20). The Laodicean condition is the special danger in these days.
What is the Lord’s estimate of its state? What is the sum and character of Laodicean wealth in His eyes? “Thou art the wretched (one) and the miserable (one),” besides being “poor, and blind, and naked.” The definite article (omitted in the Authorised Version) adds considerably to the point and force of the Lord’s judgment of Laodicea. “The wretched” and “The miserable,” or “pitiable,” the concentration of extreme misery, and the subject beyond all others of pity. They were poor, as destitute of true riches; blind to their state and to the Lord’s glory; and naked, as destitute of divine righteousness. There is one other feature to complete the awful picture presented of this Christless Church: “AND KNOWEST NOT.” Its actual condition before the Lord was absolutely unknown to it. Had there been the slightest recognition of its need there would have been hope. All was utter insensibility. Nothing, therefore, remained but loathsome rejection.
Rev 3:18
LAODICEA’S THREEFOLD CONDITION AND THE LORD’S THREEFOLD GRACE.
Rev 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest; and eye salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.” The three main characteristic features of Laodicea were their poverty, their nakedness, and their blindness; and these are what the Lord, ever gracious, here offers to meet. He might have commanded, but no, He counsels, “buy of Me gold purified by fire.” “Buy” need present no difficulty. Christ has the treasures of grace, the wealth of Heaven at His disposal. He fixes the terms on which He sells: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price” (Isa 55:1). Your title to come, to buy, is your need and poverty. “Gold” purified or refined by fire points to divine righteousness, tested and tried; without it, oh, how poor! with it, how rich! “White garments” are declared to be the righteousness of saints, i.e., their righteous deeds (Rev 19:8), which would cover their moral nakedness and the shame of it as well. “Eye salve” is for spiritual discernment.
Rev 3:19
THE LORD’S LAST APPEAL.
Rev 3:19 “I rebuke and discipline as many as I love; be zealous therefore and repent.” The Lord does not, as some suppose, speak in the first member of our text of saints in Laodicea. He states a truth common to both Testaments (Pro 3:11-12, and Heb 12:5-6). The passage does not assert its application to any special class of saints. The Lord had just been speaking in tones of unusual severity. The circumstances called for it. The stern rebukes administered to the angel were to be followed by an act of irremediable judgment — “spued out.” But for Christians, then and now, they were to know that the Lord’s rebukes, and His still severer chastening, were the fruit of love, not of an arbitrary dealing as perchance by an earthly parent. “Be zealous therefore and repent.” The Lord would rouse them out of the torpor and insensibility in which they were sunk. He would rekindle their interest. Has this exhortation to be “zealous and repent” reached the conscience of the Laodicean Church? It is the first step towards recovery. Has it been taken? By the mass, no. Thank God, individuals have given heed, and do hear the call to repent. But the general mass is drifting on, and Laodicea is now being fully developed as the characteristic Church state of to-day. The judgment of the professing Christian body, as announced in Rev 3:16, is inevitable and at hand.
Verse 20
CHRIST STANDS, KNOCKS, AND SPEAKS.
Rev 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door, and am knocking; if any one hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in unto him, and sup with him, and he with Me.” This touching and tender call has for centuries been the foundation of Christian song and sermon. The last appeal addressed to the collective body is contained in Rev 3:19; this is spoken to individuals only. Between the threat of rejection (Rev 3:16) and its execution the Lord takes an outside place: “Behold, I stand at the door,” thus morally disowning the professing Christian body. The Lord both knocks and speaks. What a rich display of grace in the worst of circumstances! The Lord neither commands to buy (Rev 3:18) nor forces an entrance. He counsels in the one case, and knocks in the other. “I stand, . . . and am knocking.” It is a present and continuous action. The continuity of both actions is affirmed: He stands, He knocks. The Lord will not force His presence where and when it is not desired. To the disconsolate travellers to Emmaus “He made as though He would have gone further” (Luk 24:28). They constrained Him to enter, saying, “Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them.” In the presence of Jesus risen all is changed, He becomes the host and they His guests (v. 30). “If any hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in unto him, and sup with him, and he with Me.” It is the last season of communion ere the night of judgment dawns. It is essentially individual. If denied Church fellowship, how exceedingly sweet the promise! The voice here is not that of Christ in quickening power, nor is it the knocking of salvation at a sinner’s heart. The word to sinners is, “I am the Door: by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved” (Joh 10:9). They have not to knock, for it is an ever open door, and they have simply to enter in. To believers the word is, “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luk 11:9). But in our text He continues standing and knocking. He wants the place in the hearts of His own. He will make a feast for us even now; together with Him we joy and rejoice, but He dispenses the joy.
Rev 3:21-22
PROMISE TO THE OVERCOMER.
Rev 3:21 “He that overcomes, to him will I give to sit with Me in My throne: as I also have overcome, and have sat down with My Father in His throne.” The “throne” is the sign and symbol of royal authority and dominion. How did Jesus reach His Father’s throne and sit down with Him in that exalted seat? Not by inherent right only! But by His life of patience and death for His Father’s glory. The conqueror’s path lies open to us. His example is our cheer. His footprints our guide-marks. The reward to the overcomer is undoubtedly a glorious one, but by no means exceeding those addressed to the Philadelphian conquerors. Association with Christ as Son of Man in His kingdom is here the promised blessing. The kingdom will be universal in extent (Psa 72:8; Zec 14:9; Psa 8:1-9); righteous in administration (Psa 72:1-7; Psa 45:7; Isa 32:1); and everlasting in duration (Dan 7:27; 2Pe 1:11; Dan 4:34). Jerusalem on high will be the capital seat of the heavenly department of the kingdom (Rev 21:1-27). Jerusalem on earth forms the metropolitan city of the kingdom here (Jer 3:17). The Laodicean conqueror is promised association with Christ in His kingdom and glory. Surely a rich and full reward for the brief if rough struggle in overcoming the Laodicean element environing us on every hand. But the contest must be maintained to the end.
Rev 3:22 –Then follows the usual call to hear, which fitly brings these Church addresses to a close.
Commentary on Rev 3:14-22 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 3:14. See the comments at Rev 1:20 for significance of Angel. The Amen is given special meaning here by the words the faithful and true witness. This is logical since the word amen means “so be it” or is an endorsement of some stated or implied fact. A true witness would not endorse any declaration that was not correct. The beginning of the creation of God. This is equivalent to the statement in Col 1:15 that Christ is “the firstborn of every creature.” The reader will do well to see the comments at that place also on a number of verses following it. The “beginning of the creation” coincides with Joh 1:1-3 where Christ is said to have been “in the beginning,” then explains it with the declaration that “all things were made by Him.”
Rev 3:15. I know thy works. Again this is used in the sense of disapproval for it is followed immediately with something that is bad. I would thou wert cold or hot. The figure is based upon the idea of food and its agreeableness to the taste. Some articles are supposed to be eaten hot and others cold. If either kind becomes neutral on the subject of temperature it will be objectionable. Also there are some articles of food that are suitable in either condition, but it is not desired that they be between the two states. On that basis as an illustration the Lord desires his disciples not to be neutral.
Rev 3:16. No parable or illustration should be strained in the application. This one does not teach that God would be pleased at all with one who is cold in his religious practices–that point is not being considered in the least in this illustration. The only idea is with the comparative preference for something cold over a lukewarm article. When we make the application the reason for this preference is evident. If a professed disciple is cold it will be clearly recognized by the world, and lie will not have much influence in keeping others from the service of Christ through his example. On the other hand, a lukewarm disciple may be a tolerably good man so that others may admire him. Yet lie is not urgent in advising them to be busy in the Master’s service and consequently his influence will be detrimental to the cause of Christ and for that reason lie will be rejected. Retaining the same subject matter for his figure, the Lord threatens to treat this church as a man would a piece of food that he took into his mouth and found it had become lukewarm; he will spew (spit) it out of his mouth.
Rev 3:17. The outstanding thought in this verse is to show how much a church can be self-deceived as to its real condition. Doubtless it possessed all of the things named of a temporal nature. One of the evil effects of earthly riches is to mislead their owners into a feeling of independence or self-sufficiency. That is why Jesus speaks of “the deceitfulness of riches” in Mat 13:22. The condition of this church was the opposite to that of Smyrna which was poor in this world’s goods but was rich in faith. Our present case is one of complete deception, for the church had concluded that it had need of nothing. We often hear the remark that some man “is independently rich,” which is just the state of mind the church at Laodicea was cherishing. The Lord admits that those people did not know (or realize) what their actual condition was from a spiritual standpoint. Wretched is definedby Thayer, “Enduring trials and troubles.” They had a good many conflicts because of their lack of spiritual worth, but their confidence in their wealth gave them a false sense of triumph over them all. Miserable virtually refers to the same condition as being wretched and their deception covered their situation also. Poor in faith while rich in the perishable things of this world. Blind means their eyes of faith had become entirely afflicted with a spiritual cataract developed from their corroding wealth, and hence they could not see that they went naked.
Rev 3:18. Gold tried in the fire is a figurative name for faith (1Pe 1:7.) White raiment consists of the righteousness of the Lord’s people (chapter 19:5), and the People could have such raiment to wear if they would follow a life of righteous conduct. Annoint thine eyes. In 2Pe 1:9 the man who lacked the qualities named in that chapter is said to be “blind,” and on that basis the church at Lao-dicea needed to use the anointment of those virtues to remove the cataract from their eyes.
Rev 3:19. Love in this place is from the word that signifies the warmest sentiments of affection. It. makes a strong and unusual situation to say that such treatment of loved ones is the very proof of that love. Yet that is a principle that is true whether a human or divine Parent is being considered. (See Heb 12:6; Heb 12:9.) Be zealous therefore. Since these stern rebukes are evidence of the Lord’s love for them, it should induce them to repent with zeal which means to be active about it. The fundamental meaning of repentance is a change from one condition to another for the better. These people were relying on their temporal wealth for gratification and were poor in faith. They now should take on a sincere interest in the spiritual things of Christ and begin serving him by righteous living.
Rev 3:20. The specific subject matter for the various churches seems to have been completed. This verse represents the general attitude of the Lord toward all human beings. The door is that of the heart into which Jesus will enter if given a welcome. He will not force an entrance into a man’s life, for the only kind of service that will be pleasing to Him is a willing service. Hence the human heart must respond to the call of the Lord. Sup with him, and he with me. In old times it was one of the surest indications of hospitality for a man to eat with another. It also was a token of recognition and endorsement. (See Mar 2:16; 1Co 5:11.) This mutual supping between Christ and his host is a figure of speech to indicate the great intimacy that He offers to share with a human being if permitted to do so.
Rev 3:21. Him that overcometh means one who is faithful under all trails and difficulties. Sit with me in my throne is another figurative expression, meaning that such a person will be regarded as having right to that fellowship with Christ in the kingdom, that is stated in 1Co 4:8 and 1Pe 2:9.
Rev 3:22. He that hath an ear is commented upon at Rev 2:7.
Commentary on Rev 3:14-22 by Burton Coffman
Rev 3:14
And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
LAODICEA
Laodicea is a word which has come to stand for lukewarmness, indifference and compromise. Some theorists make a big point out of what they affirm to be the meaning of the word: “Its name designates it as the Church of mob rule, the democratic church, in which everything was swayed and decided by popular opinion.”[55] We are reluctant to accept this, be cause the town was actually named by its founder Antiochus II (261-246 B.C.) after his wife Laodice.[56] It was situated in the same general vicinity of the other six cities addressed in this series, on the great Roman road to Syrian Antioch. It was never much of a fortress, due to the vulnerability of the water supply, “which came principally by a vulnerable aqueduct from springs six miles away to the north in the direction of Hieropolis … Laodicea could hardly stand a determined siege.”[57]
Laodicea was a banking center with a great deal of wealth. One of the great industries was that of wool and woolen garments, featuring a fine quality glossy black wool from Phrygian sheep; another industry was that of drugs developed in connection with the medical school there. One of the famous Laodicean remedies was a “Phrygian eye-salve” which was supposed to cure inflammation. Blaiklock speculated that this probably came from dried mud from one of the numerous hot springs in the area.[58] This information illuminates the charges which the Lord made against the church of this city, in his words, “Thou art miserable and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev 3:17). It is as though he had said, “You are spiritually bankrupt in spite of all the banks, looms and pharmacies in the city.”
Particularly noticeable was the wealth of Laodicea. Following the great earthquake which demolished the place in 60 A.D., they rebuilt at once from their own resources, declining the lavish gifts offered by the emperor. Scholars who suppose that Laodicea could not have recovered so quickly as a date in the late 60’s for Revelation would indicate that they have failed to take their great wealth and self-sufficiency into account.
One other significant fact of the environment is that of the hot springs, which when mixed with water from the colder springs resulted in a lukewarm, nauseous mixture totally unsuitable for drinking purposes.
Laodicea suffered the same kind of general decline that came to the whole area in subsequent centuries, finally falling to the Turks in the 14th century. Today, it is called Eski-Sheher, meaning “old town,” the capital of the Turkish province of the same name. The population in 1955 was 122,755.[59]
The church at Laodicea was one of a group of three congregations known to us from the writings of Paul. He directed that two of his epistles should be sent there (Col 4:16). “These were the Colossian letter and another which has been lost, unless the epistle to the Ephesians is meant.”[60] This church received, along with Sardis, the strongest of our Lord’s denunciations, there being no compliment of any kind extended to them.
[55] J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1900), p. 72.
[56] E. J. Banks, ISBE, p. 1836.
[57] E. M. Blaiklock, op. cit., p. 124.
[58] Ibid., p. 125.
[59] Encyclopedia Britannica (Chicago: William Benton, Publisher, 1961), Vol. 1, p. 710.
[60] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 487.
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:
The Amen … This denotes the one in whom verity is personified.”[61] There is also the sense of completeness and finality in it. Before Christ, there was no other; and after him there is no other.
The faithful and true witness … The faithfulness of Christ is affirmed in this, a truth often overlooked. As deity, Jesus Christ had no need of faith in the sense of its use today; but “as a man” he walked in faith, implicitly trusting all that the Father had promised. In the ultimate sense, all human justification derives from the perfect faith and perfect obedience of Christ.
The beginning of the creation of God … Plummer pointed out that the words here bear two possible interpretations:
The two meanings are: (1) that which would make Christ the first created thing of all things God created, and (2) that which would understand Christ as the Source of all the things God created.[62]
Plummer and many other able scholars declare the second meaning to be the one intended here. “The words mean, the one from whom creation took its beginning.”[63] The agreement with Col 1:16 is probably intended, for the church in Laodicea received Colossians.
[61] Ibid., p. 488.
[62] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 115.
[63] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 488.
Rev 3:15
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot.
Two possible meanings of this are intriguing, and either one or both could be correct. Which is the right turns upon what Jesus meant by “I would thou wert cold or hot.” If the Lord’s reprimand here is the rough equivalent to, “You Laodicean Christians are just like the notoriously lukewarm drinking water in your town,” then he meant that the Christians should be either like good cold drinking water, or like a beneficial hot drink from one of the thermal springs. On the other hand, if the “lukewarmness” here has reference solely to the spiritual temperature of the people, then he could have meant that he could prefer them to be cold, “because a lukewarm Christian can do the church more harm than an outright enemy of the faith.”[64] Others have explained the possible meaning thus, “An honest atheist is more acceptable to the Lord than a self satisfied religious man.”[65] Whatever, exactly, was meant, the principal idea is devastatingly clear. This church had lost its enthusiasm, zeal, and excitement concerning their holy religion. Through the ages they have come to stand for the most disgusting thing on earth, a fat, lazy, self-righteous and complacent church, basking in their own presumed achievements, but wholly unacceptable to the Lord.
[64] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 62.
[65] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 105.
Rev 3:16
So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Neither hot nor cold … The contrast is between the hot medicinal waters of Hieropolis, and the cold pure waters of Colossae.”[66] Thus, the church was providing neither refreshment for the spiritually weary, nor healing for the spiritually sick.
I will spew thee out of my mouth … This is a shocking figure, but one of the most expressive in the New Testament. Strangers entering Laodicea for the first time, when they tried to drink where the hot spring water and the cold came together, would usually “spew it out.”
ENDNOTE:
[66] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 125.
Rev 3:17
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked:
How strange that God’s people in such a place were destitute of spiritual graces. There was plenty of money, but they were poor; there was plenty of the finest clothing on earth, but they were naked; there was healing for many in the medical school, but they were blind. This is a sad commentary upon the way things are today with many Christians who live in the affluent society, with plenty of everything except that alone which can prevent their being like the Laodiceans, miserable and poor and blind and naked.
And knowest not … The worst thing about their condition was their total ignorance of the true nature of it. They had evidently mistaken “the good life” for the righteous life. They boasted of their riches and professed to need nothing whatever; and yet they were the neediest of all. May all Christians pray that they may not be self-deceived concerning their own spiritual condition. What can be done for the hypocrite who does not know he is a hypocrite, for the spiritual beggar who is dreaming that he is rich, or for the naked sojourner who images that he is fully clothed?
Rev 3:18
I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.
It is evident that the lack of the Laodiceans was precisely in those areas where they fancied they were the strongest. The allusion to Laodicean wealth, their garment industry, and their “Phrygian eye-salve” is evident.
Buy of me gold refined by fire … This is a metaphor of true fidelity in Christ Jesus, as suggested by 1Pe 1:7; but the expression, “Buy of me” is particularly interesting. “the of me is emphatic,”[67] indicating that the true wealth is procurable only from the Son of God. Neither the banks of Laodicea nor the gold mines of Pangaeus can supply the blessed “riches in Christ” without which all mankind is miserable and poor and blind and naked. Furthermore, the very fact of a purchase being required in this command raises the question of what shall be tendered in order to receive the gold refined by fire? Lenski quoted Isa 55:1 in this context:
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price (Isa 55:1).
Lenski’s comment on this is: “Buy for nothing! This is the strange wonderful gospel buying.”[68] With due deference, how ever, to the respected Lenski, the riches in Christ are not avail able “for nothing,” but without money, there being a world of difference in the two propositions. The very thing wrong at Laodicea was that they were proposing to enjoy true riches of Christ for nothing. The same is true of a great deal of the current religious world around us today. Among the things that “in a sense” must be exchanged for the true riches are an obedient faith in Jesus Christ. However, it is only “in a sense” that such may be called “buying.” There is no quid pro quo that may be tendered in order to receive salvation; and it was probably this that Lenski intended.
And white garments that thou mayest be clothed … Like the buying, above, this represents something which to some degree, at least, must be provided by the wearer, Christ, of course, being the only source. The apostles commanded that one should keep himself “unspotted from the world” (Jas 1:27). White garments of righteousness are supplied by the Lord to the baptized believer; but there is no promise of any such thing to the believer or unbeliever who will not be baptized. Thus, people are here commanded to “buy” white garments.
And eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see … This demanded purchase, like the others, may not be had for money; but that does not mean that it is available upon any other terms than the one laid down in Scripture. “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psa 19:8). The only eye-salve, therefore, that will do spiritual blindness any good is the word of the Lord; and it was precisely this that the Laodiceans needed. How could they “buy it”? Through study and attention given to the word of God. Is this “for nothing”? Indeed no; but it is without money.
[67] Ibid., p. 127.
[68] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 158.
Rev 3:19
As many as I love, I reprove 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.
For full discussion of the doctrine of chastening, see in my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 317-319.
There is nothing like this in the whole New Testament; it could be in tended for all the churches, but Laodicea’s being the last one caused it to be incorporated here with the letter to that church. A literal translation is: “See, I have taken my stand upon your threshold, and I am continually knocking.”[69] Many have commented upon this matchless verse which is honored in the music and art of the world. Morgan paraphrased the meaning thus:
He waits for man. He is not waiting for a committee to pass a resolution. If any man hear my voice, I will come to him … I will be his guest, “I will sup with him.” He shall be my guest, “and he with me.” I will sit at the table which his love provides, and satisfy my heart. He shall sit at the table which my love provides, and satisfy his heart.[70]
“This promise has a eucharistic flavor about it. The mention of a supper with Christ pictures the last supper in the upper room, and the subsequent occasions when it was re-enacted as the continuing symbol of Christ’s continuing presence.”[71] “This is one of the greatest gospel texts in the New Testament and should be quoted frequently in both public evangelism and in personal work.”[72]
Certainly, one of the applications of this verse is that of referring it to the Lord’s Supper. This sacred institution, observed without interruption throughout the Christian era, enables every Christian to “eat with the Lord” in every observance of it. We agree with Caird who considered this reference imperative.
[69] Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), p. 67.
[70] G. Campbell Morgan, The Letters of Our Lord (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), p. 104.
[71] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 58.
[72] Ralph Earle, op. cit., p. 527.
Rev 3:21
He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne.
Plummer, and many others, see two thrones in this passage. “The throne promised is not that which Christ now occupies with his Father, but his own throne.”[73] However, there is only one supreme throne. “God’s throne is Christ’s.”[74] As we shall see in the next two chapters, Christ is now completely and gloriously enthroned. The notion of two thrones in this passage must be rejected. “God knows no other victory, and needs no other victory, than that which is won by the cross of Christ.”[75]
To sit down with me in my throne … “This promise of sharing the throne is the climax of an ascending series of glorious promises which carry us from the Garden of Eden to the throne of God in heaven.”[76]
Many do not seem to believe that Christians are now sharing the throne with Christ, but in a sense they are; despite the fact of this interpretation being merely the type of the glory that shall come later at the Second Advent (which is also in view here). Howard stated it thus: “Christians reign with Christ as his agents in proclaiming Christ’s authority for man’s salvation.”[77] Hinds’ great summary of the thought here is:
As Christians are agents through whom men are saved (1Ti 4:16), so they are agents through whom Christ reigns. Hence, they sit with him in his throne, that is, rule with him. It is called the Father’s throne because he gave it to Christ; it is Christ’s because he sits upon it; it is the throne of David, because Christ, a Davidic descendant, sits upon it. Moreover, only one throne is supreme, that “of God and of the Lamb” (Rev 22:1).[78]
[73] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 118.
[74] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 373.
[75] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 58.
[76] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 551.
[77] G. T. Howard, Revelation (Dallas: Christian Publishing Company, 1966), p. 28.
[78] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 65.
Rev 3:22
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
For the seventh time this message has been thundered from the gates of heaven, indicating that these letters to seven ancient churches have a relevance infinitely beyond the circle of the original recipients. “They are a composite word to the church universal throughout time.”[79]
A SUMMARY REGARDING THE SEVEN LETTERS
The background. The discerning student cannot fail to see that Jewish persecution against the church is active in these letters, in which “the synagogue of Satan” is twice mentioned (Rev 2:9; Rev 3:9). The casting of Christians into prison at Smyrna is evidently related to this Jewish opposition. “When the appeals of sophistry failed to draw the Christians back to the religion of their ancestors, the Jews sought every association possible with the Romans to crush the new sect (Act 24:14).”[80] At the time Revelation was written, this power of the Jews to enlist Roman authority in their campaign against the church was drawing to a close; and therein, perhaps, is the explanation of the “ten days” reference in the letter to Smyrna. Such a deduction as this is disputed; but the fact cannot be denied that there is a strong Jewish complexion in the opposition cited in these two chapters. “Therefore, it appears that this was written before the fall of Jerusalem.”[81] If Jewish persecutions were about to end, however, there was yet a greater trial upon the horizon, “the great trial” coming upon the whole world (Rev 3:10); and that is best understood as the great Roman persecutions, already begun under Nero, but due to be intensified and continued.
The throne. There is only one throne of universal power and authority, and that is the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1); and these seven letters show the power of the throne judging, encouraging, protecting, and guiding the church, reaching a climax in Rev 3:21, where the church itself is promised a seat upon it, true in a sense now, but to be followed by greater honors later. In these letters, “ominous warnings provide a dark background for glowing promises.”[82] The next two chapters will provide a revelation of that great throne in more specific terms, but it is the same throne (authority) that dominates these letters. In this is seen the unity and logical sequence of progression in the Apocalypse.
The judgment. This is the theme of Revelation (Rev 1:7); and the coming of Christ in his judgment of the churches is evident in all of the seven letters, his infinite knowledge of their affairs being invariably repeated, “I know thy works.” Significantly, however, the judgments threatened are obviously related to the present time, being contingent in some cases upon the repentance of those judged; but beyond this, there are undeniable echoes of the Second Advent, as indicated by the repeated promises of eternal life, variously stated as eating of the hidden manna, receiving the crown of life, walking with the Lord in white, etc. In this double application of “judgment” both to things in the present life and to the saints’ entry into heaven, the exact pattern of the Saviour’s great Olivet address (Matthew 24, etc.) is followed. Much of Revelation will remain unintelligible unless this conformity to that pattern is observed. “Each representative church is being judged by the living Lord in anticipation of that climax (the judgment), and the correctives that he seeks to apply are preparatory for His elevation of the church to His side on the throne.”[83]
The dangers. What are the dangers against which these admonitions are designed to warn Christians? They are the danger of leaving our first love (Ephesus), the fear of suffering (Smyrna), the toleration of false teaching (Pergamum), allowing leadership to fall into evil hands (Thyatira), spiritual deadness (Sardis), the danger of not holding fast (Philadelphia), and that of an indifferent complacency and lukewarmness (Laodicea).
Plan of interpretation. We have rejected the futuristic notion that in the future all these cities are to be restored and that then these things shall be fulfilled, and also the conception that seven successive ages of the church are indicated. The seven churches have been understood here as literal, historical congregations, and that these seven were chosen because of the varied types of correction needed, thus making the letters applicable to all situations in the future of the church, in which the specified conditions might occur. Regarding the “seven successive ages” interpretation, we agree with Wilbur M. Smith who said:
The only aspect of this interpretation that may have some virtue is the interpretation of Laodicea. It seems that lukewarmness and indifference will mark the church at the end of the age, particularly indifference to the great doctrines of the faith and unwillingness to defend them.[84]
THE INTRODUCTION AND KEY TO REVELATION
These seven letters are a marvelous introduction to the whole prophecy because: (1) there are just seven mentioned, corresponding to the seven successive parallel views of history which follow; (2) each of the seven letters ends with a reference to the “judgment” of Christ upon each church; and (3) the great and final reward of eternal life appears under various figures in each of them, corresponding exactly to the culmination of the whole prophecy in the final JUDGMENT and the awarding of eternal life in the NEW JERUSALEM for the saints. These letters, in a sense, are a preview of the entire book of Revelation.
[79] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 130.
[80] Beeson, Ulrich R., The Revelation (Little Rock, Arkansas: Ulrich R. Beeson, 1956), p. 42.
[81] Ibid.
[82] Charles M. Laymon, The Book of Revelation (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1960), p. 72.
[83] Merrill C. Tenney, op. cit., p. 68.
[84] Wilbur M. Smith, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 1063.
Commentary on Rev 3:14-22 by Manly Luscombe
Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22)
The City–Laodicea was a city of great wealth, richest in the region of Phrygia. It is located in the Meander Valley on the Lycus River. It had existed since the third century BC, but was badly damaged in an earthquake in 60 AD. It was being rebuilt with Roman assistance. The city was on a major trade route. It was known for its raven black wool and a famous eye salve made developed in its medical school. It was also a banking center for the region. Six miles away was the city of Hierapolis, known for its hot springs. This hot water flowed near Laodicea after falling over a 300-foot cliff. It was, thus, lukewarm when it got to Laodicea.
The Church–We know that the church had existed for many years, because Paul wrote a letter to them. This letter predates the letter to the Colossians. Paul urged that the two churches exchange and read the letter. (Col 4:16)
Things Commended–There is nothing good to say about this church. In all the other letters Jesus first commends then condemns. In Laodicea there is nothing good to say, therefore, nothing is said. In the movie Bambi, Thumpers mother said, If you cant say somethin nice, then, just dont say nothin at all.
Things Condemned-(1) This is the church that made Jesus sick. They were lukewarm. Not hot, on fire for Christ, not cold, opposing the truth. They were just lukewarm. (2) Jesus pictures himself as on the outside of this church seeking permission to come in. Most often this verse (20) is used to invite those who have not obeyed the gospel to open the door of their heart and invite Jesus into their lives. However, Jesus is speaking to a church, body of believers, who have not allowed Jesus into their hearts. (3) Because Christ loves them, he rebukes them. Jesus uses the fame of the city to urge them to become an alive, active and faithful church. – This city was proud, arrogant, and self-sufficient because of their riches. Their thinking was, We have gold, and we need nothing else. Jesus requests that they buy some gold from him, tried in the fire of persecution and trial. This is the only way they can be rich. Black wool – Since there was pride in their black wool, Jesus requires them to buy some WHITE (pure) garments. In their black wool – they were naked and failed to realize it. Eye salve – The city was famous for an eye salve developed by the medical school. Jesus said, You have all this eye salve at your disposal, but you are not using it. They were commanded to apply some of the salve to their spiritual eyes so they could see. The sight here is spiritual discernment, ability to see and understand the will of God. This church had everything – everything except Christ! He was on the outside looking in. He was knocking, seeking permission to come in and fellowship with them.
Conclusion: Here is the summary conclusion of Ray Summers in his book, Worthy is the Lamb, page 127. The message delivered first to the churches of Asia Minor is universal. Its truth applies wherever similar conditions are found today; and it is difficult to find churches where at least some of these conditions are not found. The warning against spiritual apathy still stands.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Sermon on Rev 3:14-22
Lukewarm Christianity
Brent Kercheville
Do you make our Lord Jesus want to vomit? The church at Laodicea is the last church that Jesus writes to in his letters to the seven churches of Asia. This is the church that made God sick. This is a terrible thought. Here are people who are claiming to follow Jesus but their actions make Jesus sick. The problem is that these Christians practiced lukewarm Christianity. Lets look into the letter and see why they are lukewarm and what we can learn from their sins.
Jesus Self-Description (Rev 3:14)
Jesus calls himself, The Amen. This seems to be an unusual description for our Lord. The word, Amen, means, a strong affirmation of what is stated (BDAG). Jesus used this word many times at the beginning of his teachings when he said, Truly, truly I say unto you. The words, Truly, truly are the same Greek word repeated, Amen, amen. The saying is faithful, trustworthy, and will assuredly happen. The apostle Paul spoke of Christ as the Amen. For every one of Gods promises is Yes in Him. Therefore, the Amen is also spoken through Him by us for Gods glory. (2Co 1:20 HCSB) Christ is the fulfillment of Gods promises. He is the yes to Gods promises. Jesus also calls himself, The faithful and true witness. This description amplifies the truthful and fulfilling nature of Jesus in the title, Amen. Not only is Jesus the truth, buteverything he speaks is faithful and true. What he says will happen. Finally, Jesus calls himself, The beginning of Gods creation. This does not mean that Jesus was the first created. That is not what we are being told. Rather, Christ was at the beginning of creation. One Greek lexicon (BDAG) uses the word, Commencement to communicate the point. The idea is that Jesus is first in rank and power over Gods creation. Therefore, some translations render these words to communicate better this idea. Some translations read, The Originator of Gods creation (HCSB, NET), the origin of Gods creation (NRSV), the ruler of Gods creation (NIV, TNIV) and the source of Gods creation (Gods Word). It is the same Greek word used in Joh 1:1 where we read that the Word was in the beginning with God. To sum up what Jesus is calling himself, he is saying that he is faithful and trustworthy in accomplishing all things. What he says will happen because he is the ruler and authority over all creation.
Their Works (Rev 3:15-17)
Jesus knows their works. I hope we have noticed that he knows the works of everyone. They are not hot or cold, but lukewarm. Often a mistake is made in thinking that Jesus is saying that he would rather a person be fully devoted to God (hot) or not devoted at all to God (cold) rather than lukewarm. However, there is not a spiritual advantage before God to be a completely rebellious sinner. To understand the imagery we need to understand a little bit about the city of Laodicea. The city of Hieropolis, seven miles to the north, was known for its hot springs. The city of Colosse, less than 10 miles to the south, was known for its cold waters that were pure and drinkable. Laodicea had the unfortunate circumstance of having neither. When trying to pipe in the hot waters from Hieropolis, the water was lukewarm after the seven mile distance. The water was also dirty and impure once the water got to Laodicea. The picture Jesus is giving is that they are useless and valueless. Hot water has use and value. Cold water has use and value. But you, O Laodicean church, are lukewarm. You are not fit for healing or for drinking. Jesus is not saying, Be saved or be lost. Rather, Jesus is revealing the current useless state of these Christians just like their water supply.
Why are these Christians useless? What has happened that the Lord says that he wants to vomit them out of his mouth? They think they are rich because of their physical possessions that they have. However, they are not rich toward God. They are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. They are lukewarm Christians because they have not invested in God, but in this world. Their focus is not on the spiritual but on the physical and material.
IGNITE: There are a number of ways that we can fall into the same state of uselessness like these Christians in Laodicea. I read a book that has a listing of characteristics of lukewarm Christians that I will share with you.
Lukewarm people attend worship fairly regularly because they think that is what they have to do, not what they want to do. The heart of this is revealed when we wonder if we have to come to church on Sunday night or Wednesday night. Lukewarm people have to come to worship. Christians want to worship.
Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both in the church and outside the church. They care more about what people think about their actions than what God thinks of their hearts.
Lukewarm people do not really want to be saved from their sins. They want only to be saved from the penalty of their sins. They do not hate sin and are not sorry for committing it. They are only sorry because God is going to punish them.
Lukewarm people do not believe that the new life in Christ is better than the old sinful life.
Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, and friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion.
Lukewarm people gauge their goodness by comparing themselves to the world. They are satisfied as long as they arent as bad as the world. They are not concerned that they are not fully devoted to Jesus like others.
Lukewarm people say they love Jesus and Jesus is a part of their lives. But only a part. They give him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but he isnt allowed to control their lives.
Lukewarm people love God, but they do not love him with all their heart, soul, and strength. They assure themselves by thinking that this sort of total devotion is not really possible for the average person. Its only preachers and radicals.
Lukewarm people think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven. Daily life is mostly focused on todays to-do list, this weeks schedule, and next months vacation. Rarely, if ever, do they intently consider the life to come or what God would have them do.
Lukewarm people probably drink and swear less than average, but besides that, they really arent very different from your typical unbeliever. They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldnt be more wrong.
Lukewarm people walk by sight, not by faith. They do not trust their lives to God, but trust in themselves.
We can have the same problem as these in Laodicea. Look at Rev 3:17. They do not realize that they are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. They think they are rich. They are fooling themselves.
Breaking Free (Rev 3:18-20)
What can we do to end this lukewarm disposition that Christ wants to vomit out of his mouth? Jesus gives a number of instructions to the church. The first instruction is to buy the things you need from Christ. We must see that we are wretched, naked, and pitiable. Only then will we come to Jesus and purchase the spiritual wealth that we need to avoid judgment. Stop thinking about your material wealth and start thinking about your spiritual wealth. Only in Christ can we have true riches, clothing, and insight. If you were naked, poor, and unable to see you would quickly take care of the problem. You would go and buy clothing so that you would be decentin public. You would do what you could to accumulate money so that you could pay your bills. You would go and get your eyes looked at so that you could see. These would be obvious things that we recognize we would need to take care of immediately. Jesus uses the same imagery to help us recognize we have a problem that must be fixed immediately. You are spiritually naked. You need the clothing Christ supplies. You are spiritually poor. You need the gold that Christ offers. You are spiritually blind. You need the healing that only Christ can give. Dont we see that we are putting our efforts in the wrong places? We are striving for the things of this world rather than striving for Christ and his kingdom. Seek God. Seek the things of God. (See Mat 6:25-34)
Second, Christ tells them that he reproves and disciplines those he loves. Sometimes we can get very defensive about lessons and teachings that tell us we are falling short of Gods requirements. We can sometimes ignore difficult teachings that step on our toes. Christ says that we need to hear these things. This church needed to hear that he was vomiting them out of his mouth because they are so disgusting to him. He speaks these hard words because he loves us. Notice what he is asking us to do. Be zealous and repent. Our theme for the seven churches of Asia has been ignite. Christ is calling on us to ignite our lives for him. Be zealous for him. Devote ourselves to him and love him like we ought and know we can. Rekindle your loyalty to Christ.
Finally, Christ pictures himself as standing at the door and knocking. It is up to you to decide if you want a relationship with Christ. He wants to have fellowship with you. Rev 3:20 tells us that he will come in and eat with those that choose him. Jesus is asking for a relationship with you. He has done everything on his end so that we can have a relationship with him. He has died and risen from the dead so that we can have a relationship and be in fellowship with him despite our sinfulness. He will not forcefully take over your life. You must choose to seek him.
To The Conquerors (Rev 3:21-22)
To those who choose to seek him there is a great reward that must not be forgotten. Those who choose Jesus will be granted to sit with Christ on his throne. One of the consistent images to the seven churches of Asia is that those how devote their lives to Christ will be victorious. Christ says that he will share the honor of his exalted position with us. It is like a king picking out a few of his subjects and saying that they can sit on the throne and rule with him. It is an unbelievable picture. No king would co-rule with his subjects. But Christ says he will share the honor and rule with us. We are the subjects. We have no right to rule. We do not deserve to rule. Christ says that you will devote your life to him that we will share in his rule. Friends, he rules over everything. He rules over all creation. Recall how the lesson started in Rev 3:14. He is the commencement of all creation and he will share that power and rule with us.
LESSON 7.
MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH IN SARDIS
Read Rev 3:1-6
1. To whom is this letter addressed? Ans. Rev 3:1.
2. What two characteristics of Christ are mentioned, about which John had already learned? Ans. Rev 3:1 : Rev 1:4; Rev 1:16.
3. John had been told that the Revelation would come from whom? Ans. Rev 1:4.
4. What had Jesus said the Spirit would do? Ans. Joh 15:26-27.
5. What do the seven stars represent? Ans. Rev 3:1; Rev 1:20.
6. What was the spiritual condition of the majority in this church? Ans. Rev 3:1.
7. In what sense can one be “dead” while one “liveth”? Ans. Eph 2:1; 1Ti 5:6; Luk 15:24.
8. What two things were they commanded to do? Ans. Rev 3:2.
9. In what condition were the “things that remain”? Ans. Rev 3:2.
10. What did the Lord say about their works? Ans. Rev 3:2.
11. What were they told to remember? Ans. Rev 3:3.
12. What did Jesus say about the manner of his coming upon them? Ans. Rev 3:3.
13. Who knows when the Lord will come? Ans. Mat 24:36.
14. Describe the condition of the world at the coming of Christ. Ans. Mat 24:37-41.
15. What are all commanded to do? Ans. Mat 24:42.
16. What had a few in Sardis not done? Ans. Rev 3:4.
17. What promise was made to them? Ans. Rev 3:4.
18. Name a three-fold blessing for him “that overcometh.” Ans. Rev 3:5.
19. Where are the names of all the people of God written? Ans. Rev 3:5; Luk 10:20; Php 4:3; Heb 12:23.
20. What will God do with the names of his people who sin against him? Ans. Exo 32:33; Psa 69:28.
21. What is the final destiny of all whose names are not in the book of life at the judgment? Ans. Rev 20:15.
22. Who only shall enter heaven? Ans. Rev 21:27.
23. Before whom will Jesus confess the names of the righteous? Ans. Rev 3:5.
24. What must we confess in order for Jesus to confess us before the Father? Ans. Mat 10:32.
LESSON 8.
MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA
Read Rev 3:7-13
1. To whom is this letter addressed? Ans. Rev 3:7.
2. What does the word “Philadelphia” mean? Ans. It means “brotherly love.”
3. In what respect did this church differ from the other six? Ans. Jesus presented no adverse criticism of it, only commendation.
4. What characteristics of Christ are mentioned in this letter? Ans. Rev 3:7.
5. Give the phophetic utterance regarding the key to David. Ans. Isa 22:22.
6. The Christ had to be the son of what great king? Ans. 2Sa 7:12; Jno. 7: 42. 7. Who is the promised son of David? Ans. Rom 1:3; 2Ti 2:8.
8. On whose throne was he to reign? Ans. Psa 89:3-4; Psa 132:11; Luk 1:31-33.
9. What did Peter point to as a fulfillment of God’s promise to David? Ans. Act 2:30-33.
10. On whose throne did David and Solomon sit? Ans. 1Ch 29:23.
11. Where has he established his throne? Ans. Psa 11:4; Psa 103:19.
12. What had the Lord set before this church? Ans. Rev 3:8.
13. What had they kept? Ans. Rev 3:8.
14. What will those of the synagogue of Satan be compelled to do? Ans. Rev 3:9.
15. From what would the Lord keep this church, and why? Ans. Rev 3:10.
16. Upon whom was this “hour of trial” to come? Ans. Rev 3:10.
17. What were they to hold fast, and why? Ans. Rev 3:11.
18. Give the two-fold blessing promised “to him that overcometh.” Ans. Rev 3:12.
19. Name three things to be written upon those who overcome. Ans. Rev 3:12.
20. What is the most important thing any ear can hear? Ans. Rev 3:13.
FOR CLASS DISCUSSION
1. Discuss the meaning of “key” as used in the Bible. (See Jdg 3:25; Isa 22:22; Luk 11:52; Mat 16:19; Rev 1:18; Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1.)
LESSON 9.
MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA
Read Rev 3:14-22
1. To whom was this letter addressed? Ans. Rev 3:14.
2. How does this letter differ from the others? Ans. It contains no commendation; all censure.
3. Give three titles applied to Christ in this letter. Ans. Rev 3:14.
4. What is meant by the expression, “the beginning of the creation of God”? Ans. Joh 1:1-3; Col_115-17.
5. What can you say of the spiritual condition of the Laodiceans? Ans. Rev 3:15-16.
6. Explain the difference between a church that is “cold,” a church that is “hot,” and a church that is “lukewarm.” Ans. Rev 3:15-16.
7. Which of the three conditions is the worst? Ans. Rev 3:15-16.
8. What did the Lord threaten to do with this church? Ans. Rev 3:16.
9. What is the final destiny of all half-hearted, double-minded, lukewarm church members? Ans. Jas 1:7-8; Mat 25:30.
10. What was this church’s opinion of itself? Ans. Rev 3:17.
11. What warning is given to all? Ans. Rom 12:3; Gal 6:3.
12. What did the Laodiceans riot know about themselves? Ans. Rev 3:17.
13. What three things did the Lord counsel them to do? Ans. Rev 3:18.
14. What blessings would they obtain by doing each of these three things? Ans. Rev 3:18.
15. Whom does the Lord reprove and chasten? Ans. Rev 3:19; Pro 3:11-12.
16. Why does God chasten his people? Ans. Heb 12:10-11; 1Co 11:32.
17. What should be the Christian’s attitude toward the chastening of the Lord? Ans. Heb 12:6-9.
18. This stinging rebuke should have caused the Laodiceans to do what two things? Ans. Rev 3:19.
19. The Lord represents himself as standing where, and doing what? Ans. Rev 3:20.
20. Upon what condition will the Lord enter in? Ans. Rev 3:20.
21. How does one “open the door” unto the Lord? Ans. Joh 14:23.
22. What is promised to all “that overcometh?” Ans. Rev 3:21.
FOR CLASS DISCUSSION
1. Discuss the loss each one of the seven churches would suffer by failing to overcome:
a. What Ephesus would forfeit, Rev 2:7.
b. What Smyrna would lose, Rev 2:10-11.
c. What Pergamum would not receive, Rev 2:17.
d. What Thyatira would not be permitted to do, Rev 2:26-27.
e. What would happen to Sardis, Rev 3:5.
f. What Philadelphia would lose, Rev 3:12.
g. What Laodicea could not do, Rev 3:21.
E.M. Zerr
Questions on Revelation
Revelation Chapter Three
1. Identify author of letter to Sardis.
2. What was known of this church?
3. What was it exhorted to strengthen?
4. Tell what was wrong with its works.
5. What were they admonished to remember?
6. In what manner might the Lord come upon them?
7. What was said of a few of their number?
8. Tell what was promised them.
9. On what ground was this promised?
10. How will the victors be clothed?
11. What assurance concerning their names?
12. Where will they be acknowledged?
13. What should all hearers do?
14. To which church i. next letter addressed?
15. What key is held by the author?
16. Who may and ‘who may not open and close?
17. Tell what is acknowledged here.
18. What is set before this church?
19. Tell what cannot be done with it.
20. Of what did they have even though a little?
21. How had they treated His name?
22. What synagogue is mentioned?
23. Tell what claim they made.
24. Of what does the Lord accuse them?
25. To whom will they be compelled to come?
26. What must they do there?
27. They will be made to know what?
28. What had this church kept?
29. For this what was to be the reward?
30. For what was that hour to come?
31. When will the Lord come?
32. What should they hold fast?
33. Lest what?
34. What will be made of him who overcomes?
35. Tell what he shall not do anymore.
36. What names will be written upon him?
37. What and where is the city of God?
38. What privilege must we give those with ears?
39. To what church was the seventh letter?
40. What kind of witness is the author?
41. State the name given to him here.
42. Of what was he the beginning?
43. State the kind of works this church had.
44. Who knew this?
45. Tell what he would have preferred.
46. In what manner will they be rejected?
47. Of what did they boast?
48. How many defects did they have instead?
49. What were they counseled to buy for riches?
50. How should they be clothed?
51. This was to hide what?
52. What should be done for their eyes?
53. How does the Lord indicate his love?
54. In what way should they show their zeal?
55. Where does the Lord stand?
56. Tell what he is doing there?
57. On what condition will he enter?
58. Upon entering what will he do?
59. Where will the victors sit?
60. With whom will they sit?
61. With whom does He sit?
62. Why was he allowed to sit there?
63. To whom did the Spirit speak?
Revelation Chapter Three
Ralph Starling
To the Sardis Church God says I know your works and what a name it is said,
A name that you are much alive, but I know you are dead.
Your works are not perfect, there is much to be done.
So, remember: repent, hold fast and you will overcome.
To the church in Philadelphia a door has been opened that no man can close.
Even the synagogue of Satan will fail to oppose.
You have kept the word of my patience,
Hold fast, be faithful that you may receive your crown of acceptance.
But to the Laodiceans, you are neither cold nor hot.
Being lukewarm you have need of a lot.
So, lest I spew you out of my mouth, repent!
Be faithful and zealous and do not resent.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I Stand at the Door and Knock
Rev 3:14-22
It is better to be cold than lukewarm, for in the latter case all that Gods love can do for the soul has only produced a moderate result, while if we are cold, our soul has yet to be tried. The Gospel has a better chance with the openly profane and godless than with those who have been brought up under its influence and are so far unaffected. The mischief with men generally is that they do not know themselves, and do not want to know; and they are equally ignorant of the rich stores of blessedness that Christ waits to bestow. We think that we abound in gift and grace, when in Christs eyes we are most pitiable. Yet, at this moment, He is standing at the door, laden with the gifts of heaven. Admit Him, or at least lift the latch of the will, so that He may push the door back and enter. Do not attempt to deal with the squalor within; He will see to that, and cleanse, keep, and enrich. Do not try to provide supper; He will bring thee His own flesh and blood.
Ponder that last beatitude, which promises to all believers that if they share with Him His age-long conflict against the evil of the world, they shall share His rule and power, which they shall use with Him for the uplift and blessing of mankind. Complete and continually renewed self-surrender to Christ will admit into our hearts the royalty and power of Christ.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 15
Christs letter to the church at Laodicea
‘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.’
Rev 3:14-22
The Lord Jesus Christ ought to be loved ardently, with an all-consuming love. Behold, how he loved us! He ought to be served with an all-consuming zeal. Behold, how zealously he has served us! Yet, there are many who, professing to know him, professing to trust him, professing to love him. are lukewarm, apathetic, indifferent toward him. And, it must be acknowledged that even those who do truly know, trust, and love him, because of the weakness of our flesh, because of our own sinfulness and corruption of hearts by nature, struggle incessantly with a horrid tendency toward lukewarmness. Our Lords letter to the church at Laodicea was written specifically to deal with our horrible tendency toward lukewarmness and indifference toward him.
Laodicea was a famous city of great wealth in Asia Minor. It was the commercial, financial center of the region. Laodicea was the home of millionaires. It had three marble theaters, a great stadium, and a huge gymnasium equipped with baths. There was a famous school of medicine at Laodicea, which, among other things, claimed to have produced a remedy for weak eyes. The city was also well known for its hot springs, which emitted lukewarm water continually.
The people of Laodicea were rich. They were the envy of the world; and they knew it. They were very proud of themselves. Really, they were unbearable snobs! This arrogant ‘we are it’ attitude was also found in the church at Laodicea. Perhaps they thought that their wealth was a sign of Gods favor. But, in general, the church at Laodicea had gradually become a lukewarm, apostate, useless assembly of religionists, without life before God. It was in danger of being entirely rejected by Christ.
Apparently, this church was at one time a healthy, strong, spiritually vibrant congregation, a pillar of truth, and a lighthouse in the midst of great darkness. Paul, at least once, wrote a letter to this Laodicean church. He talked about it with warmth, and never mentioned anything amiss concerning it (Col 2:1-2; Col 4:13-16). Since the apostle Paul held this church in such high esteem, it is safe for us to assume that, at least during his ministry, it was a strong, vibrant congregation.
Something went wrong. In the process of time this great church, once on fire for God, degenerated into a sickening state of lukewarmness. It became careless, lax, and indifferent. Perhaps the earlier generation had died out. Perhaps its wealth had seduced this assembly into worldliness. Perhaps its freedom from persecution had produced in the people a sense of carnal ease. Whatever the cause, the church was now in a state that was nauseating to the Son of God. It was neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm.
Nothing can be done with lukewarm people. There is hope for cold, hardened rebels. And it is a great joy to work with men and women whose hearts glow with love and zeal for Christ. But lukewarm religionists are sickening, nauseating, disgusting! Christ himself cannot stand them. He says, ‘because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.’ Lukewarmness, apathy and indifference, toward Christ betrays the apostasy of the heart from Christ.
The charge of lukewarmness
In Rev 3:14-17 the Lord Jesus Christ lays a solemn charge against the church at Laodicea. It is a charge that would most assuredly be followed by judgment, if they did not repent. The charge was lukewarmness, apathy, indifference, and carelessness.
‘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.’
Let us be warned. Lukewarmness is gradual apostasy, lingering death, and the forerunner of judgment. Stephen Charnock wrote, ‘If once we become listless, we shall quickly become lifeless.’ Complacency is a spiritual sickness at best. It is usually a sign of spiritual death. May God save us from this plague, which seems to have swept through the church of this age.
This letter, like the other six, was addressed to the angel, the pastor, of the church at Laodicea. It appears that there were some in the church whose hearts were true; but, generally speaking, the whole congregation was insensitive to Christ, the gospel of his grace, and the glory of his name. There was no fire in the pulpit and no warmth in the pew.
This message of stern reproof came from Christ himself, the righteous Judge. He calls himself ‘the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.’ Our Savior is ‘The Amen.’ He is steady, unchangeable, immutable in all things. His purpose will stand. His promises are sure. His word is true (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8; 2Co 1:20).
Our Lord Jesus is ‘The Faithful and True Witness.’ He who is our Judge is faithful and true in his judgment. What he says is true; and what he does is just. Because he is both faithful and true Christs testimony of God to men is to be received and believed; and his testimony to God about men will be received. Those whose names Christ confesses to the Father will be accepted. Those lukewarm, carnal ones who merely profess faith in his name, whom Christ shall deny before his Father, shall be rejected.
The Son of God also calls himself ‘The Beginning of the Creation of God.’ That is just another way of saying that he is himself God. He who is the parent, producer, and first cause of all things is himself God (Joh 1:1-3; Heb 1:1-3). Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Son of God is the One who began everything that is, has been, or shall hereafter be. He is the beginning of the old creation. He created all things out of nothing. And he is the head and beginning of the new creation, the church and kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, our Mediator is ‘the everlasting Father’ (Isa 9:6) from whom all things have life. As he describes himself here, Christ is saying to the Laodiceans, You are dead. You need life. You need a new heart. Look to me. Turn to me. I can make you new creatures.
‘The Lord reveals himself here, wrote William Hendriksen, ‘as the One whose eyes not only see exactly what is going on in the hearts of these people of Laodicea but whose lips also declare the exact truth of what is seen.’
In Rev 3:15-17 the Son of God draws up a solemn indictment against this church at Laodicea. He says to the church as a whole, to the pastor, to the elders, to the deacons, to the teachers, and to the people in general, ‘Thou art lukewarm.’ They had been so secure. They thought they were healthy and strong. But Christ knew their hearts. He said, ‘Thou art lukewarm.’
Christ, who is our Life, charges this congregation of professed believers with spiritual death. ‘I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot’ (Rev 3:15). The Laodiceans were not hypocrites. They were deceived. They were blind men who thought they had perfect vision. They were dead men who thought they were alive. They were lost people who were very sure they were saved.
Lukewarmness, apathy and indifference, regarding the Lord Jesus Christ is the very worst condition a person can be in this world. If Jesus Christ is real, then he is the unspeakable gift of God. We should earnestly seek him, lovingly embrace him, and zealously serve him. If he is an impostor, then he is the most vile impostor the world has ever known, and we should earnestly oppose him. If Jesus Christ is worth anything, he is worth everything! ‘Why halt ye between two opinions?’ If Jesus Christ is God our Savior, faithful and true, we should devote ourselves to him totally. If he is not, we should set ourselves against him totally. Concerning the Son of God and the gospel of his grace there is no room for neutrality! Matthew Henry wrote, ‘Christ expects that men should declare themselves in earnest, either for him or against him.’ With Joshua, I hope we can, each of us, declare, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’
Indifference is an intolerable evil. Our Lord says, ‘I would thou wert cold or hot.’ It is better to be utterly ignorant of the gospel than to be a vain, carnal, indifferent, lukewarm professor of faith. These Laodiceans professed faith in Christ, but had no interest in promoting it. They professed love for Christ, but had no real, heart attachment to him. They professed allegiance to the gospel, but had no zeal for the gospel. They were lukewarm.
This lukewarmness, this apathy and indifference toward the Son of God, is nauseating to him. ‘So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth’ (Rev 3:16). He threatens, ‘I will spew thee out of my mouth.’
As lukewarm water turns the stomach and induces vomiting, so lukewarm religion turns the stomach of the Son of God and sickens him. Those are not my words, but his. Lukewarm religion turns his stomach and sickens him! Men excuse their apathy, calling it moderation, charity, and meekness. But Christ looks upon it as effeminacy. Quite literally, the Lord is saying, ‘I am gagging on you. I am about to vomit you out of my mouth.’ This is Christs warning to all compromising fence-straddlers, who try to serve God and mammon. They shall be rejected, completely rejected, and forever rejected!
One great cause of this Laodicean lukewarmness was their foolish pride. ‘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’ (Rev 3:17).
Their pride deceived their hearts. These men and women had a very high opinion of themselves. Therefore they had a very low opinion of Christ. They flattered themselves with the delusion that all was well, when in fact nothing was well. They were doctrinally sound and morally pure; but they were spiritually dead. They had a great name to uphold, a sound creed to defend, and religious ceremonies to maintain. All they lacked was life!
Look at the high opinion they had of themselves. – ‘Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.’ Without a doubt, this congregation was materially wealthy, rich and getting richer every day. They had no earthly needs. But riches seldom do any good for churches or for men who seek to serve Christ. The problem was that these rich men and women presumed that they were rich toward God, that their souls were rich in spiritual things.
They knew the way of life. So they presumed that they were in the Way. They had the doctrines of Christ. So they presumed that they had the life of Christ. They had the gifts of the Spirit. So they presumed that they had the grace of the Spirit. They kept the ordinances of God. So they presumed that they had the power of God.
How careful, how careful we must be that we do not deceive our own souls. There are multitudes in hell today who once thought they were heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Psa 139:23-24). Be warned, there is nothing more dangerous, more deadly, or more damning to our souls than self-complacency, self-satisfaction, and self-conceit. Complacency, satisfaction with yourself, is your souls most deadly enemy.
Now, look at the opinion Christ had of these proud, secure Laodiceans. Though they knew it not, Christ knew that they were ‘wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked’ (Rev 3:17). They were spiritually poor, not ‘poor in spirit,’ but spiritually poor. Their souls were starving, though they lived in affluence. They were spiritually blind. Yet, they thought they had perfect vision. The light that was in them was darkness. They could not see their own condition. And they could not see the things of God (Joh 3:3; 1Co 2:14).
They were naked. Their righteousnesses were filthy rags. They had nothing but their rags of self-righteousness to cover them. And those rags were filthy. Not only were they naked before God, their filthy rags of self-righteousness increased their defilement.
Though they were very religious and moral, the Laodiceans were sinners, dead before God in trespasses and sins; and as such they were both wretched and miserable. They were ‘wretched,’ deserving of the wrath of God, under the just sentence of death, and in danger of hell. And there was nothing they could do to change their condition. They were ‘miserable,’ or pitiable. Who is more to be pitied than a person who imagines he is a true believer and an object of Christs favor, while in reality he is utterly disgusting and revolting to the Son of God?
Let us not be so foolish as to read this charge of lukewarmness as a mere historical narrative about a church that once existed in Laodicea. This is a message from Christ to you and me. Will you honestly examine yourself? Will I? Let us ask of God that he will show us our true condition before him. Lukewarmness is indifference, apathy, and complacency regarding the things of God. Lukewarmness is caused by self-satisfaction and carnal security. Lukewarmness will result in reprobation. Apostasy is always followed by reprobation.
God almighty does reject men and women who reject his counsel (Hos 4:17). Our Lord does stamp Ichabod upon the doors of churches where once his glory was revealed and known (Jer 7:12-16). Very often, if not always, those whom God has rejected are so far from knowing that judgment has fallen upon them, that they vainly imagine that God is greatly blessing them.
The counsel of love
‘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’ (Rev 3:18-19).
What a tender, compassionate Savior Christ is! He stoops to counsel and reason with sinful men (Isa 1:18). He counsels sinners to buy salvation from him (Isa 55:1-7), though we often cast his counsel behind our backs. There is hope for sinners so long as Christ, the sinners Friend speaks graciously by the gospel. ‘Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts’ (Heb 3:7-8).
Here is the counsel of love, which the Son of God gives to wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked sinners, even to proud, self-righteous sinners. Our Lord counsels the poor to buy of him gold tried in the fire. The exceeding riches of Gods grace in Christ are like gold. But, as gold is refined by fire, so the grace of God comes to sinners only through the blood of the crucified Substitute, who endured the fire of Gods wrath for us. Grace is gold that was refined in the oven of Gods infinite wrath and justice at Calvary. Like gold, the grace of God in Christ makes poor sinners rich before God (2Co 8:9.
The Son of God counsels naked souls to buy of him white raiment. This, of course, refers to his perfect righteousness. It is white because it is pure. It is called raiment because like a garment it warms, beautifies, and adorns us, making us perfect, holy, and blameless before the Lord God himself (Eze 16:6-14; Son 4:1; Son 4:7; Son 4:9-11).
The Lord Jesus counsels spiritually blind sinners to anoint their eyes with eye salve that they might see. The eye salve in this text is the gospel of the grace of God. When applied to our hearts by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, it illuminates our souls and brings us out of darkness into Gods marvelous light. This blessed eye salve gives us ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2Co 4:6).
Only in the gospel of substitutionary redemption can we see the glory of God revealed in saving sinners (Rom 3:24-26). Gods glory is his grace and righteousness in Christ (Exo 33:18 to Exo 34:7). Though this eye salve can only be effectually applied to sinners by the irresistible grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, we must each personally apply it to ourselves by hearing it (Rom 10:17), believing it (Acts 6:31), and seeking to understand it (Psa 86:11; Psa 119:26-27). This is the wise and gracious counsel of the Son of God, the Wonderful Counselor. If we follow his counsel, he is honor-bound to make it effectual.
The Son of God graciously rebukes and chastens the people he loves, tenderly, but effectually, causing them to repent and come to him (Rev 3:19; Psa 65:4; Hos 2:6-20). The Lord Jesus Christ will not lose the soul he loves. Every blood bought child shall be brought by his grace to repentance. He may lead them through great difficulties and terrifying troubles to cause them to come to him, but he will get their attention and fetch them to himself. If he has to set their barley fields on fire, he will set their barley field on fire. If he has to send a swarm of bees, he will send a swarm of bees. If he has to kill their Uzziahs, he will kill their Uzziahs. But he will make you willing to come to him (Psa 107:1-42)
He rebukes by his own gospel. He chastens by the terrors of his law and his providence. He calls to repentance by the almighty, irresistible power of his Spirit. And he inclines their hearts to him by the chastening rod of his love. The chastening of the Lord, both that which brings us to Christ in the beginning and that which brings us to him day by day, is proof positive of his eternal love for us (Heb 12:5-12
The call to life
In Rev 3:20-22 our Lord tenderly calls the dead to life. ‘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’ (Rev 3:20-22)
Picture him, if you can, leaning, as it were, upon the door of this church, a door that had been bolted against him by complacency and self-sufficiency. But, thanks be unto God, he is not willing to be turned away! He knocks by the word of the gospel. He speaks by the voice of his Spirit. And he calls to all who hear his voice, saying, ‘Open the door.’ If we are his, he will not take ‘no’ for an answer. Instead, he puts his hand of grace into our hearts, opening the bolted door, and causes our hearts to burn with love for him. Thus, he effectually draws us with cords of love and graciously causes us o run after him (Son 5:2-6).
Yes, our Lord sovereignly opens the door and lets himself into the hearts of his people. Yet, he only comes in where he is wanted. He opens the door in regeneration and in the reviving of our languishing souls, pouring in his grace. We open the door in conversion, earnestly desiring and seeking him. We must not confuse the two (Joh 3:3-8; Act 16:14; Joh 1:11-13).
If we will open our hearts to and receive the Lord Jesus Christ, he will graciously come in to abide with us forever (v.20; Joh 14:23). I fully realize that dead men have no ability in themselves to do anything. Yet, I know that if any will awake and rise from the dead, Christ will give them light (Eph 5:14). If any do rise up from their tomb of death and come to Christ, the fact that they do so is evidence that he awakened them and raised them from the dead. If any open to him and receive him into their heart by faith, it is because he has already entered their heart in life-giving power. Yet, we must open to him. Otherwise, we will forever perish without him. Let us ever open our hearts to the Son of God!
That fellowship and communion which begins on earth in conversion will continue in heaven in everlasting glorification (Rev 3:21). All who overcome the terrible temptations and natural tendencies of the heart to lukewarmness, worldly indifference, and proud complacency, will sit with Christ in his throne forever. And this is the victory by which we overcome the world: faith in Christ (1Jn 5:4). ‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches’ (Rev 3:22).
If the Son of God has spoken to you by his Spirit, open to him, believe on him, come to him. He will save you. Indeed, if you believe on him, he has saved you by his grace. If you are a believer, but one who has become somewhat indifferent to Christ, flee away to him now, cast yourself down at his feet, open to him. He will come in again unto to you. He will forgive you.
Child of God, fear carnal presumption like you would fear the most deadly plague. The thought of lukewarmness and indifference terrifies me. Yet, it is ever with me. Only Christ can keep me in life and grace. Let us ever beware of our danger and hold fast to our dear Savior, trusting his grace alone to sustain us, preserve us, and bring us to glory (Jud 1:24-25).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
the angel: Rev 1:11, Rev 2:1
of the Laodiceans: or, in Laodicea, Col 2:1, Col 4:16
the Amen: Isa 65:16, 2Co 1:20
the faithful: Rev 3:7, Rev 1:5, Rev 19:11, Rev 22:6, Isa 55:4, Jer 42:5
the beginning: Col 1:15
Reciprocal: Gen 1:1 – God Pro 8:7 – my mouth Isa 11:5 – and faithfulness Isa 43:10 – and my servant Jer 28:6 – Amen Jer 29:23 – even I Eze 44:15 – the sons Mat 6:13 – Amen Mat 24:35 – my Joh 3:3 – Verily Joh 3:11 – We speak Joh 5:31 – General Joh 14:6 – the truth Joh 18:37 – that I should Rom 1:7 – To all 2Co 1:18 – as 2Co 3:3 – the epistle Col 1:18 – the beginning Col 4:13 – Laodicea 1Th 5:12 – and are 1Ti 6:13 – who before Heb 1:10 – in 2Pe 3:4 – from the beginning 1Jo 5:20 – him that Rev 1:4 – to the Rev 1:20 – The seven stars Rev 2:4 – because Rev 19:9 – Write Rev 22:18 – testify
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA
And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write.
Rev 3:14
The tone of the Apocalyptic letter is one of severe, and even ironical, censure. The Laodiceans were not as those who had never been touched by the heat of the Divine Spirit. It would have been better had such a communication never come to them, for then there would have been the chance of their regeneration. But their special guilt lay in thisthat they had known and felt that wondrous kindling and yet had only partially responded to its power. Thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. This spiritual lukewarmness should, if it continued, issue in their contemptuous rejection. They thought themselves rich. They prided themselves on their acquired wealth. They fancied that they were beyond all need. Ah, fatal delusion! Thou art the wretched one, and miserable and poor and blind and naked. The Lord counsels them, who were so ready to traffic in this worlds goods, to buy of Himeven of Him Who alone could bestow upon them what they really lacked. He has gold refined by firesuch that the possessor of it is rich indeed. He has white garments in which the guilty may hide their shame. He will give ointment by which the eye of the consciencethe spiritual eyemay recover its power of sight. But the blamestern as it isis not intended to excite despair. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. The Divine love was still their privilege. The voice of condemnation was a summons to amendment. The Saviour is knockingthe touching metaphor has suggested one of the most familiar of our modern hymns, and inspired one of the most famous pictures of our generationat the doors of their hearts, petitioning for entrance. He will sup with any who will open to Him. To the victor He will grant a place on His own ample and broad seat of authority; even as it had been given to Himthe Victor of victorsto share in His Fathers everlasting seat.
I. Religious indifference is an evil with which we are all only too well acquainted.Some of us will recollect the saying placed by Charles Kingsley in the mouth of one of his characters, that were the Catholic Church what she ought to be but for a single day the world would be converted ere nightfall. Who can deny that in the hyperbole there is a large element of truth? The victories of Christianity are retarded or thrown away because the soldiers of the Cross are so often slack and negligent.
II. Religious indifference has its root in worldly prosperity.The Laodicean Christians were endangered by the abundance of the things which they possessed. Wealth! Our Redeemer spoke to His disciples so strongly and uncompromisingly about the moral and spiritual perils connected with it. The mammon of unrighteousness! It was, it would seem, responsible for the lukewarmness of this Asiatic community. Surely it is only too often responsible for ours. We are well-to-do; our lives are full of comfort, perhaps of luxury; we can give ourselves what pleasures we care for; the stress and strain of the worldso severe, so intolerable for manyare for us reduced to a minimumand spiritual idleness, sloth, negligence, indifference are the result. Do let us be on our guardour continuous and anxious guardagainst the dangers which come with material welfare.
III. He that overcometh!The rewards of spiritual victory! Participation in His everlasting triumph! It is promised, says a modern preacher, that the twelve thrones shall be one throne, and that one throne the throne of Christ. The glory that shall be revealed shall be a glory of union with Christ, the glory not of assessors with Christ, not of companions of Christ, but of persons incorporated and as it were merged in Christ; the glory of those who have been found in Him, so that what He is they are, what He does they do, because He lives they live also, and where He is, there shall also His servant be. That glory to which none other can possibly compare may be ours. Such a thought ought to move and stir us and impel us forward. The battle is unspeakably worth the winning. Do not let us lose it. Do not let us be foundnot amongst the conquerorsbut amongst the outcast. If only we will be loyal and true, if only we will be His faithful soldiers and servants, we may be received through Him and for His sake into that unthinkable heavenly company, into which we trust that there have been already received some whom we knew and loved and will never forget, and into which we also may be gathered before longwho can say when?
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Rev 3:14. See the comments at chapter 1:20 for significance of Angel. The Amen is given special meaning here by the words the faithful and true witness. This is logical since the word amen means “so be it” or is an endorsement of some stated or implied fact. A true witness would not endorse any declaration that was not correct. The beginning of the creation of God. This is equivalent to the statement in Col 1:15 that Christ is “the firstborn of every creature.” The reader will do well to see the comments at that place also on a number of verses following it. The “beginning of the creation” coincides with Joh 1:1-3 where Christ is said to have been “in the beginning,” then explains it with the declaration that “all things were made by Him.”
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 14.
The letter to the church at Laodicea.–Rev 3:14-22.
1. “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God”–Rev 3:14.
The God of Amen means the God of truth, as stated in Deu 7:9 — “Know ye therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” The repeated expression the faithful and true witness, refers to the things of the apocalypse -the absolute certainty of all the announcements made by his angels and agents in all of the visions.
The reminder that he is the beginning of the creation of God is the same in substance as that he is Alpha and Omega, meaning that he is the beginning as well as the end, the first as well as the last. It carries the same affirmation as in Joh 1:3, “all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” It means that in the beginning with God he was the active principle in creation, and is the Lord over all creation by primogeniture right–that is, the exclusive right of inheritance belonging to the firstborn. This right possessed by Jesus Christ is also affirmed by Paul in Heb 1:1-14 –“God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds . . . being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” In priority of existence, having been the agent of all creation, he is Lord of the new creation, the whole spiritual realm.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The Apologists Bible Commentary
Revelation 3
14″To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
CommentaryBy James Stewart Delling in Kittel’s Theological Dictionary Of The New Testament on page 479 made an important statement that needs to be kept in mind while looking at occurrences of ARCHE, ARCHE always signifies primacy, whether in time beginning, principium or in rank: power, dominion, office. As a foundation, Rev. 3:14 needs to be put in the context of the entire book of Revelation. In 1:5, Jesus is called the (Ruler) ARCHON over the Earth’s Kings. ARCHON obviously overlaps in meaning with ARCHE as can be seen from a check of the standard lexicons. In 1:17, Jesus is The First and The Last as in 2:8 and 22:13. YHWH in the Old Testament has this name in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12. In Rev. 5:13-14, a picture is given of One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb receiving worship. In 22:13, Jesus is given three names: The First and The Last, The Beginning and The End, and The Alpha and The Omega. This gives Jesus the same names of the Almighty as in 1:8 and 21:6. This is the high Christology of Revelation. What we have in Rev. 3:14 are three active titles for Jesus. The first title is The Amen. This is most probably the same title of YHWH in Isaiah 65:16. His second title is The Faithful and True Witness. His third title is The Ruler over God’s creation. It could also mean ‘Source.’ Ruler or Source are both active titles in this context. Beginning does not fit the immediate or the wider context. Some who want ARCHE to have a passive use (see Objections, below). By doing this, they destroy the parallelism of the titles. I understand the genitive in Rev. 3:14 to be objective. In certain examples where beginning is a possibility, I think that we would find that more of an idea of ‘chief things’ would be more proper. For example, in Mark 1:1, ARCHE could mean ‘chief things’, ‘essentials’, or ‘summary.’ See Allen Wikgren, “ARCHE TOU EUAGGELIOU,” JBL 61 (1942), pages 11-20. Another interesting point is that whenever ARCHE refers to a person (now, of course, only persons can be rulers), it almost always has something to do with rule, dominion, or authority of some type. If some would argue that ‘beginning’ is the unmarked meaning to ARCHE, I would say I agree. But then I would say that the contextual marker for ARCHE to mean ‘ruler’ is that it refers to a person. If fact, it is so obvious that I am tempted to say that ARCHE referring to a person has to do with some type of authority, unless there is some contextual marker to change its meaning. This view is supported by the LXX, New Testament, and secular usage. J.R. Mantey in Depth Explorations In The New Testament on page 100 stated, Outside the NT, we found the following ideas expressed by the word: Beginning or Source, eighty-seven times; authority, forty times; office, thirty-six times; ruler or commander, thirty-two times; realm or dominion, eighteen times.” A few samplings of the usage as ruler are: Plutarch, Morals II.151F, he held the greatest and the most perfect position as a ruler. In Lives VIII, Sertorius 10, They were altogether lacking in a commander of great reputation. In Morals V.75.E, For it is not fitting for the Ruler and Lord of all to listen to anyone. In Diodorus Siculus II Bk.3.5.1, him the multitudes take for their king. In Philo, Alleg. III.58, for the sake of being a ruler with governors; 66, Amalek, the ruler of nations. Ruler in Rev. 3:14 also comports well with one of the most famous Messianic prophecies Isaiah 9:5-6 where the LXX uses ARCHE for Christ’s rule. A significant example of ARCHE from the first century A.D. occurs in Josephus’ Antiquities, 8.280. In this passage, Josephus calls God: ARCHE KAI TELOS TWN hAPANTWN (“the beginning and the end of all things”). Here, again, we see “beginning” in the sense of source, not first in a series; just as we see “end” in the sense of goal or purpose, not last in a series. If Josephus can speak of God as the ARCHE of all things, without intending to imply that He was first-created, John certainly can say the same of the Son of God. I end with a quote from Louw & Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon page 779, entry 89.16, one who or that which constitutes an initial cause – ‘first cause, origin.’ H ARCHE THS KTISEWS TOU THEOU ‘the origin of what God has created’ Rev. 3:14. It is also possible to understand ARCHE in Rev. 3:14 as meaning ‘ruler’ (see 37.56). One interesting historical side-note: Rev. 3:14 was never mentioned as a proof-text during the Arian controversy.
Grammatical Analysish arch thV ktisews tou qeou ARX TS KTISEWS TOU THEOU The Beginning of the Creation of God. The “ruler” (arche, “source,” “origin”) further amplifies the Amen statement. Paul used arche in Colossians 1:18 to describe Christ as the source or origin of all creation (not the first created; cf. Prov 8:22; John 1:3), no doubt to correct a heresy. Since Colosse was a neighboring city of Laodicea, it is not improbable that the same heresy was also affecting the sister church at Laodicea. But this is not explicit. What is plain is this: When Christ addresses a church that is failing in loyalty and obedience, he is to them the “Amen” of God in faithfulness and in true witness, the only one who has absolute power over the world because he is the source and origin of all creation (1:17; 2:8; 22:13) (EBC ). The beginning of the creation of God (h arch ts ktises tou theou). Not the first of creatures as the Arians held and Unitarians do now, but the originating source of creation through whom God works (Col 1:15, 18, a passage probably known to the Laodiceans, John 1:3; Heb 1:2, as is made clear by 1:18; 2:8; 3:21; 5:13) (RWP ).
Other Views ConsideredJehovah’s Witnesses objection: In his book The Role of Theological Bias in Bible Translation, Rolf Furuli presents a number of arguments in favor of the view that the “beginning of creation” signifies that that Son is “first-created.” Let’s consider them in order: 1. Page 255: From the above it is clear that arche, in more than 75% of its occurrences, means beginning. 2. Page 255: 7 of the instances with the meaning government are in the plural. Also, the four singular occurrences with this meaning are qualified, either by everyor by a genitive construction 3. Page 255: The word arche in Colossians 1:18 stands unqualified as a predication of Jesus, and the meaning government seems to be out of the question in this verse. 4. Page 256: The application of arche to Jesus in Revelation 3:14 is parallel to its use in Colossians 1:15. In Revelation 3:14, arche is qualified by God’s creation, and this presents a problem for those who support the trinity doctrine. The sense government, authority is hardly fitting Response: Page 255: From the above it is clear that arche, in more than 75% of its occurrences, means beginning. This statistic can be misleading. In the LXX, it is closer to approximately 50% with the meaning of ‘beginning’. ARCHE can mean beginning, rule, sum, choicest, edge, band, highest, origin, and top. Context will determine the meaning in each occurrence. In the New Testament, the writers just happen to have used the meaning ‘beginning’ in most of the it was used. Page 255: 7 of the instances with the meaning government are in the plural. Also, the four singular occurrences with this meaning are qualified, either by everyor by a genitive construction Mr. Furuli does not tell us why ARCHE in the singular or plural is significant. In those contexts, the ARCHAI are a multitude of false, spiritual entities at war with Christ and the saints or world rulers. They are always a multiplicity. But if Rev. 3:14 is taken as ‘ruler,’ it would stand in beautiful contrast to the multitude of false ARCHAI of the world and spiritual realms. Since when does the number of a noun have any relation to its meaning apart from context? Is Mr. Furuli trying to say that if John wanted to communicate that he meant ‘ruler’ by using ARCHE, he would have to put it into a plural? If he is, see Luke 20:20 to find ARCHE in the singular meaning ‘ruler.’ Nor does he state the significance of ARCHE qualified by ‘every’ or the ‘genitive.’ Is he trying to say this is the only way ARCHE can mean ‘ruler?’ I don’t know. But this statement could contradict Mr. Stafford’s argument in number 5 above. Page 255: The word arche in Colossians 1:18 stands unqualified as a predication of Jesus, and the meaning government seems to be out of the question in this verse. How can government or more properly ‘ruler’ be out of the question for Col. 1:18? The context of Col. 1:15-18 is that Christ is preeminent and that all things are held together by him. ‘Ruler’ fits the context and makes perfect sense. The context of Gen. 49:3 and Deut. 21:17 is the first son born. Page 256: The application of arche to Jesus in Revelation 3:14 is parallel to its use in Colossians 1:15. In Revelation 3:14, arche is qualified by God’s creation, and this presents a problem for those who support the trinity doctrine. The sense government, authority is hardly fitting I agree that Rev. 3:14 is parallel to Col. 1:15, but I take both genitives of each verse to be objective. If they are objective genitives, Col. 1:15 could be translated as ‘the Firstborn over all creation’ and Rev. 3:14 could be translated as ‘the Ruler of God’s creation.’ So also, Rev. 1:5 could be translated the Ruler (ARCHON not ARCHE} over the Kings of the Earth. Notice the parallelism to Rev. 3:14. Jesus in the Ruler and Faithful Witness! Referring to Rev. 3:14, Mr. Furuli states that, The sense government, authority is hardly fitting here Why, because Mr. Furuli says so? He continues, the only other meaning which is which is found in the N.T., namely, ‘beginning’, then Jesus is described as ‘the beginning of God’s creation,’ and this a part of creation. Not necessarily, since these titles of Jesus in Rev. 3:14 are active, beginning would mean ‘the one who starts it.’ Besides, why is ‘beginning’ the only other meaning which is found in the New Testament? Is he stating that other meanings of ARCHE are not available to John? Is there a rule somewhere that states there is only three meanings to ARCHE in the New Testament? I always thought context determined meaning! It is obvious from this line of reasoning that Mr. Furuli does not want ARCHE to mean Ruler and Origin in Rev. 3:14. objection: Like Mr. Furuli, Greg Stafford has also argued in favor of the “first-created” meaning for ARCHE in this verse. Mr. Stafford’s arguments are as follows: 1. Page 236: While it is true that arche can have a meaning other than beginning, a check of all the occurrences in NT of arche followed by a genitive expression (as we have in Rev 3:14) shows that it always denotes a beginning or first part of something 2. Page 237: Also, we should point out that BAGD went on to say regarding the use of arche in Rev. 3:14, the [meaning] beginning=first created is linguistically [possible]. 3. Page 236-237: The final 11 are used to denote governments or rulers, and with such a meaning are always used with other expressions denoting power or authority 4. Page 237-240: Biblical parallels to the grammar of Revelation 3:14. Matt. 24:8, Mark 13:19, John 2:11, Philip. 4:15, Heb. 3:14, 5:12, 6:1, 7:3, 2Pet. 3:4, Job 40:19 5. Page 239: Burney believes Revelation 3:14 is an allusion to Proverbs 8:22, and with reference to the meaning of Revelation 3:14 he states the truth of the matter when he says that exegetes ‘have not a shadow of authority for the limiting in meaning to the source of God’s creation’. 6. Page 240: Returning to the issue of parallels to Revelation 3:14, another example that is particularly striking in its similarity to Revelation 3:14 is Job 40:19 7. Page 240: Also, in Revelation 3:14 it is said that Jesus is the arche of God’s creation, so whatever meaning we give to arche in this verse it does not negate the fact that Jesus is distinct from the being of God. Response: Page 236: While it is true that arche can have a meaning other than beginning, a check of all the occurrences in NT of arche followed by a genitive expression (as we have in Rev 3:14) shows that it always denotes a beginning or first part of something D. A. Carson lists using statistics to “stack the deck” as a common exegetical fallacy (Carson, Fallacies , p. 102). I believe Mr. Stafford, perhaps unknowingly, has committed such a fallacy here. Why should the analysis of ARCHE be limited to the New Testament? Mr. Stafford does not so limit himself when he is dealing with other passages. His “rule” is coincidence rather than some statistical discovery. Here is a list of occurrences in the LXX of ARCHE followed by a genitive expression: Gen. 1:16, 40:20; Ex. 6:25; Psalm 109:3, 136:6; Prov. 17:14; Jer. 22:6; Dan. 6:26, 7:12, 11:41; Amos 6:11; Ob. 20; Mic. 3:1. As can be seen from these passages, a genitive expression is not a contextual marker for ARCHE to mean ‘beginning.’ Page 237: Also, we should point out that BAGD went on to say regarding the use of arche in Rev. 3:14, the [meaning] beginning=first created is linguistically [possible]. Again, I believe this “rule” is coincidence. Here is a list from the LXX of ARCHE denoting ‘government’ and ‘ruler’ without other expressions denoting power or authority: Gen. 1:18, 40:13, 20,21, 41:13; Ex. 6:25; Deut. 17:18, 20; 1 Chron. 26:10; Neh. 9:17; Psalm 109:3, 138:17; Isa. 9:5-6, 10:10, 41:27, 42:10; Jer. 13:21, 30:2; Ezk. 29:15; Dan. 6:26, 7:12, 11:41; Hos. 1:11; Amos 6:1; Obad. 20; Mic. 3:1; Naham 1:6, 3:8. Based on these examples, ARCHE can mean ‘ruler’ in Rev. 3:14. Actually, any nuance available to an author at any given point in history is possible. The question is what is exegetically probable. Page 236-237: The final 11 are used to denote governments or rulers, and with such a meaning are always used with other expressions denoting power or authority Mr. Stafford’s quote from BAGD is his escape clause from the lexicon’s conclusion. The problem is that just because something is linguistically possible or probable does not make it a viable translation. The lexicon defines ARCHE in this verse as “source.” Even the new edition of the lexicon, in which Dr. Danker changes the reference to “first-created” from “linguistically possible” to “linguistically probable,” continues to define ARCHE in Rev. 3:14 as “source.” (The most recent edition in German edited by Bauer retains the earlier “possible” reference [German: mglich]). There are a few meanings to ARCHE that are linguistically possible but not exegetically possible, such as ‘extremities’ in this context. Page 237-240: Biblical parallels to the grammar of Revelation 3:14. Matt. 24:8, Mark 13:19, John 2:11, Philip. 4:15, Heb. 3:14, 5:12, 6:1, 7:3, 2Pet. 3:4, Job 40:19 Let’s take a look at these parallels” Matt. 24:8 – This is grammatically parallel, but ARCHE as a noun is being used differently. ARCHE in Rev. 3:14 is being used as a title. Matt. 24:8 is not. ARCHE in Rev. 3:14 is active. Matt. 24:8 is passive. Context will determine the meaning. In my opinion, I have established that ARCHE with a genitive expression is not relevant. Again, let’s put some of the meanings of ARCHE into this verse and see which one best fits the context: ruler, extremities, top, head, band, sum, or beginning. I think it is a pretty easy choice. Mark 13:19 – This is not a grammatical parallel for ARCHE is the object of a preposition, and APO ARCHE is used as a temporal expression. ARCHE as a noun is being used differently. ARCHE in Rev. 3:14 is being used as a title. Mark 13:19 is not. ARCHE in Rev. 3:14 is active. Mark 13:19 is passive. Again, let’s put some of the meanings of ARCHE into this verse and see which one best fits the context: ruler, extremities, top, head, band, sum, or beginning. I think it is a pretty easy choice. John 2:11 – Same as Mark 13:19 Philip. 4:15 – Same as Mark 13:19 Heb. 3:14 – Same as Matt. 24:8 Heb. 6:1 – Same as Matt. 24:8 Heb. 7:3 – Same as Matt. 24:8 2 Pet. 3:4 – Same as Mark 13:19 Further, of these examples, not one has ARCHE referring to a person! Mr. Stafford’s list of scriptures from the LXX in note 119 on page 239 are the same type of verses he listed in the New Testament, and they have similar explanations. They are not parallel to Rev. 3:14. Page 239: Burney believes Revelation 3:14 is an allusion to Proverbs 8:22, and with reference to the meaning of Revelation 3:14 he states the truth of the matter when he says that exegetes ‘have not a shadow of authority for the limiting in meaning to the source of God’s creation’. First, I do not see Rev. 3:14 as an allusion to Prov. 8:22. Wisdom is just a simple personification as in the previous chapters of Proverbs. ARCHE is being used in two different ways in these passages. In Rev. 3:14, ARCHE is an active title for Christ. In Prov. 8:22, ARCHE is a passive use. Put some of the other meanings in these contexts and you’ll find that ‘ruler’ or ‘source’ fit perfectly in Rev. 3:14 and beginning fits perfectly in Prov. 8:22. Second, Burney’s interpretation is completely different than that of Mr. Stafford. Burney may have seen a connection here with Proverbs 8:22, but his understanding of the Proverbs passage, when quoted more fully, damages the Jehovah’s Witness position. Burney states on page 162 that, the ground-meaning of KANA, referring to wisdom as, in the case of wisdom by accumulating it through mental application. The NWT states produced me in Prov. 8:22. Burney interprets ‘production of wisdom’ as meaning in the sense of accumulation such through mental application. Burney states on page 168 of his article ‘Christ As The ARCHE Of Creation’ in JTS 27, Wisdom being regarded as one of the works of God, though indefinitely anterior to all other words which she was instrumental in calling into being. It would, however, be legitimate to render, ‘the antecedent of his works’- a rendering which serves merely to state the priority of Wisdom to the words of God, without necessarily placing her in the same category with them. This rendering appears to be preferable, as preserving a measure of ambiguity which is inherent in the originalWe arrive, then, at the following rendering for the verse as a whole:- The Lord begat me as the beginning of His way, The antecedent of His works, of old. Then on page 172 he stated, The answer is to be found in the consideration that human terminology, framed to describe events happening in time, is inadequate to the description of eternal facts. The key to understanding what Burney meant by the last sentence in the passage quoted by Mr. Stafford is the word “limited.” Burney is not denying the meaning “source” at all, but saying that the meaning is not limited to it! We only need to complete the quote Mr. Stafford provides to see this: There is every reason to suppose that ARCHE is here used with all the fullness of meaning which St Paul extracts from reshith-Beginning, Sum-total, Head, First-fruits. This at any rate fits in with the statement of xxi 6, EGW TO A KAI TO W , H ARCHE KAI TO TELOS, where TO TELOS embodies the interpretation of berreshith ‘into him’ as the goal. Page 240: Returning to the issue of parallels to Revelation 3:14, another example that is particularly striking in its similarity to Revelation 3:14 is Job 40:19 Let’s consider the context of this passage. Job 40:15 states, But look at Behemoth, my creature, just as you are.(NJB) Verse 19 states, He is the first of the works of God. His Maker threatened him with the sword This is neither ‘striking’ nor parallel to Rev. 3:14. The context is the Behemoth as a creation by God (verse 15). In context, this is obviously a hyperbolic usage of ARCHE, if it means “first-created,” as Mr. Stafford would agree. If Behemoth is not a literal “first-created, and these verses are indeed a “striking” parallel, why should be take the Son as a literal “first-created?” Further, the Breton translation of the LXX renders ARCHE “Chief” in this verse, which seems a likely rendering, given the context is the supremacy of Behemoth over other created beings. In Rev. 3:14, ARCHE is an active title. In Job 40:15, 19, ARCHE is passive and the object of EIMI. Page 240: Also, in Revelation 3:14 it is said that Jesus is the arche of God’s creation, so whatever meaning we give to arche in this verse it does not negate the fact that Jesus is distinct from the being of God. Mr. Stafford has not proved distinct beings only distinct persons. He comes to this passage with Henotheistic presuppositions. I, of course, come to this passage with Trinitarian presuppositions. The question, really, is what kind of distinction is being made here and elsewhere between God (the Father) and Jesus (the Son)? Should the use of ARCHE in this verse – which at the very least is ambiguous with regard to meaning “first-created” – inform our exegesis of clear statements of Christ’s Deity (John 1:1; 1:3; 20:28; Col 2:9)? Or should sound exegetical principles lead us to the opposite conclusion, in which clear declarative statements inform our interpretation of more ambiguous verses, such as this one?
Fuente: The Apologists Bible Commentary
Rev 3:14. The seventh church addressed is that or Laodicea, an important and wealthy city not very far from Philadelphia. The chief interest of Laodicea, apart from that lent to it by the fact that it was one of the seven cities addressed in the Apocalypse, arises from its connection with the history of St. Paul. That apostle had not indeed founded the church there, nor at the time at least when he wrote the Epistle to the Colossians had he visited the city (Col 2:1), but he cherished a lively affection for its Christian inhabitants, and anxiously sought to promote their welfare (Col 4:16). It is probable that the New Testament Epistle, known as the Epistle to the Ephesians, was primarily intended for the Gentile Christians of Laodicea and the neighbouring towns.
Again we are first met by a description of the exalted Redeemer, which cannot be said to be taken directly from any part of the description of the Son of man contained in chap. 1. It seems rather to be composed of characteristics selected for their suitableness to the closing Epistle of the Seven. The Lord is the Amen. The appellation is no doubt taken from Isa 65:16, where the words of the Authorised Version, the God of truth, fail adequately to represent the original. The Lord is rather there named Amen; and the meaning of the name here is not that the Divine promises shall be accomplished by Him to whom it is given, but that He is Himself the fulfilment of all that God has spoken to His churches.
Again, He is the faithful and true witness. His work is to be a witness of God, and in that work He has been perfectly faithful, absolutely true.Once more He is the beginning of the creation of God, not merely the first and highest of all creatures,
a view entirely out of keeping with what is said of our Lord in the Apocalypse,but the principle, the initial force, to which the creation of God owes its origin. More doubt may be entertained as to what the creation here referred to is, whether the material creation in all its extent or the new creation, the Christian Church, that redeemed humanity which has its true life in Christ. The former is the view generally taken, but the third term of the description thus fails to correspond with the first two which undoubtedly apply to the work of redemption, while at the same time the subjoined words of God become meaningless or perplexing. Add to this that in chap. Rev 1:5, immediately after Jesus had been called the faithful Witness, He had also been described as the first-begotten of the dead (see note there), and we shall hardly be able to resist the conclusion that, if the whole creation be alluded to, it is only as redeemed, in its final condition of rest and glory, when the new Jerusalem has descended from heaven, and the enemies of the Church have been cast into the lake of fire (comp. Rom 8:21-22; Jas 1:18). The three predicates thus form an appellation peculiarly appropriate, not so much to the church at Laodicea considered alone, as to the last church addressed in these Epistles. We have already seen that the first Epistle, that to Ephesus, has a general as well as a special character. A similar remark is applicable now. Christ is the Amen of the whole counsel of God: He is the Wit-ness who has faithfully and completely exhibited His truth; He is the source and spring of that new creation which is called into being according to His will.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
This epistle to the Laodiceans is the seventh and last epistle which Christ commanded St. John at this time to write; most of the churches were found faulty before, but none like this here. Formality and hypocrisy, coldness and indifferency, in religion, had so for prevailed in this church, that we find nothing commended in them, nothing good spoken of them, and none of them exempted from the general charge brought in against them for that lukewarmness and hypocrisy.
In this epistle now before us, Observe, 1. A description of Christ in his deservedly glorious titles: thus saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, that is, he that is verity and truth itself, both in his promises and his threatenings, who is holy, and cannot lie; righteous, and cannot deceive; wise, and can never be deceived; therefore Christ takes upon him this name here of the faithful and true Witness, to awaken these drowsy hypocrites, to see and consider that he knows their state and condition, and will testify and witness against them.
There is no such effectual remedy against hypocrisy, lukewarmness, and indifference in the matters of religion, as a firm belief of Christ’s omnisciency and veracity. The other title given to Christ, is the beginning of the creation of God; that is, the beginner of the creation of God, the original and first cause, by which all the creatures of God had their beginning. Christ is not only principium principatun, but principium principians; not the passive beginning, or he that first created, but the active beginning, or he by whom the creation was begun, both the old and new creation.
Now Christ takes upon him this title, to encourage the Laodiceans to come unto him, (according to the invitation, given Rev 3:18.) to recover them from their formality, seeing he is omnipotent, and can give a being and beginning to grace in the new creation as he did to nature in the old and first creation.
Observe, 2. The reproof here given to this church of Laodicea, I know thou art neither hot nor cold; thou art not for open heresy or infidelity, but likest well a profession of Christianity; you receive the gospel, and so are not quite cold, but you want zeal to suffer any thing for it, and so are not at all hot; I see nothing in thee but a lukewarm indifferency, for which I disown thee, nay, disdain thee.
Learn hence, 1. That Christ loathes lukewarm persons, who profess Christianity with reserves for worldly safety. These Laodiceans were neither enemies to Christ, nor true friends, but served God and gain, Christ and the world, by turns, as occasion served.
Learn, 2. That though God abominates lukewarmness and want of zeal, yet he will not disown those who have any spark of true zeal, though defective and culpably remiss; he will not quench smoking flax, but blow it up into a holy flame; but all that have not so much zeal as to prefer Christ before the world, shall be accounted his enemies, and disowned by him.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
To The Lukewarm Church Verse 14 Laodicea was 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia. It was in a fertile valley at the junction of several major trade routes. It was a wealthy city famous for much gold, because it was a banking center, its black wooled sheep and fine garments made from that wool, and an eye powder which was used to help weak and failing eyes. There was an earthquake that destroyed the city in A. D. 60. The people were proud to say they rebuilt without any aid from Rome. Jesus is described as the “Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” Within these words, we find supported, truthful statements coming from the very creator of all the things we know of. ( Col 1:16-17 ; Joh 1:1-3 ) He had made these people, knew what they were really like and would testify as to the true state of affairs.
Verse 15 There were warm springs nearby, at Hierapolis. The word “hot” is translated “zealous” is some places and means a boiling water. The hot springs were valued for medicine and treatment of various aches. Beneath the city of Laodicea, at Colossae, one could find nice, cold drinking water. The hot springs from Hierapolis flow over the plateau and become lukewarm by the time they spill over a cliff next to Laodicea. Such water was not good for medicine or drink, thus it was useless. The church in Laodicea was, like the water outside of the city, useless. Jesus wished they were either refreshing or aided in healing. It should be noted that some have taken the position that Jesus would rather they were unconverted sinners than lukewarm Christians and cite Heb 4:4-6 and 2Pe 2:20 . God abhors those who take no stand an try to deceive others, while in fact only deceiving themselves.
Verse 16 When one gets tepid water in his mouth, he is inclined to pit out, or more literally vomit forth. This was the Lord’s reaction to a useless church. Hendricksen says, “Christ does not really say: ‘I will spew thee out of my mouth’, but ‘I am about to spew thee out of my mouth’. The Lord is still waiting.”
Verse 17 They were self-sufficient. Just as the city did not need the help of Rome to rebuild in A. D. 60, the church did not see the need for God. They saw themselves as rich and getting richer, therefore needing not one thing from anyone. In fact, their spiritual condition was one of a man “enduring toils and troubles; afflicted, wretched,” according to Thayer. They were also pitiable, that is, when others looked at the church they turned their heads because of the pathetic sight they had seen. The word “poor” here suggests one out on the streets begging. Their vision had been clouded over by smoke so they could not see these things. In a city with an eye powder used in the treatment of ophthalmia, they were so near-sighted they could not see their condition. They were without spiritual clothes in a city known for its garment industry.
Verse 18 Though they were spiritually destitute, the Lord will not force them to change but counsels them to change as a loving brother or friend might. They did not need physical riches but needed the riches of the knowledge of God ( Mat 13:44-46 ; Col 2:1-3 ) and a faith proven in the crucible of trials. ( 1Pe 1:7 ) White raiment would depict the holiness and purity which comes from the cleansing blood of the lamb. ( Rev 1:5 ; Rev 7:14 ; Act 22:16 ) They also needed their spiritual eyes opened so they could look into the mirror of God’s word and see their faults. ( Jas 1:25 ) Christians should not be as concerned with outward appearance as they are with inward. ( 2Co 4:18 )
Verse 19 Despite their problems and the very stern language the Lord has used, they should be assured he still loved them. ( Heb 12:7-11 ) The word “zealous” comes from the same root word as the word “hot” in verse 15. The Lord wanted them to turn aside from sin so he would not have to spew them out.
Verse 20 The Lord wanted to be let into the door of every Christian’s heart. He would not give up but continued to seek an entrance. He kept on knocking on the door of individual Christian’s heart and kept calling for an entrance so he could change the church. To hear the Lord’s voice, one must heed and obey. The word “sup” causes us to think of dining with the Savior at his table. Here is a church out of fellowship with its Lord.
Verse 21 Jesus has overcome the tomb and is now seated with God on his throne and is reigning. ( Act 2:32-36 ; Heb 1:3 ) Just as he overcame and began to reign, the Christian who overcomes will reign with Christ in glory.
Verse 22 We need to listen to these words and obey.
Rev 3:14-16. And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write Laodicea lay south of Philadelphia in the way to return to Ephesus: for the seven churches lay in a kind of circular form, so that the natural progress was from Ephesus to Smyrna, and so forward in the order in which the cities are here addressed, which probably was the order in which St. John used to visit them. That there was a flourishing church at Laodicea, in the primitive times of Christianity, is evident, from St. Pauls epistle to the Colossians, wherein frequent mention is made of the Laodiceans, as well as from this epistle by St. John. But the doom of Laodicea seemeth to have been more severe and terrible than that of almost any other of the seven churches. For it is now utterly destroyed and forsaken of men, and is become a habitation only for wolves, foxes, and jackals, a den of dragons, snakes, and vipers. And that because the Lord hath executed the judgment that he had pronounced upon her, that all the world might know and tremble at the fierce anger of God against impenitent, negligent, and careless sinners. The ruins show it to have been a very great city, situated on six or seven hills, and encompassing a large space of ground. Some notion may be formed of its former greatness and glory from three theatres and a circus which are remaining; one of which is truly admirable, as it was capable of containing about thirty thousand men, into whose area they descended by fifty steps. This city is now called Eski Hisar, or the Old Castle; and though it was once the mother church of sixteen bishoprics, yet it now lies desolate, not so much as inhabited by shepherds; and, so far from showing any of the ornaments of Gods ancient worship, it cannot now boast of an anchorites or hermits chapel, where God is praised or invoked. The testimony of Mr. Lindsay (quoted respecting the other churches) agrees perfectly with this of Bishop Newton. Eski Hisar, he says, close to which are the remains of ancient Laodicea, contains about fifty poor inhabitants, in which number are but two Christians, who live together in a small mill: unhappily, neither could read at all: the copy, therefore, of the New Testament, which I intended for this church, I left with that of Denizli, the offspring and poor remains of Laodicea and Colosse. The prayers of the mosque are the only prayers which are heard near the ruins of Laodicea, on which the threat seems to have been fully executed in its utter rejection as a church.
These things saith the Amen That is, The true One; the faithful and true Witness He who attests those truths, which are of the utmost importance, on the most perfect knowledge of them, and with the most unerring exactness: the beginning The Author, Head, and Ruler of the creation of God Of all creatures, as evidently here signifies. The person by whom the Father created all things, Heb 1:2; Eph 3:9; Joh 1:3. I know thy works Thy disposition and behaviour; though thou knowest it not thyself; that thou art neither cold An utter stranger to divine things, having no care or thought about them; nor hot , fervent, like boiling water, as the word implies: so ought we to be penetrated and heated by the fire of divine love. I would that thou wert This wish of our Lord plainly implies that he does not work on us irresistibly, as the fire does on the water which it heats: cold or hot Even if thou wert cold, without any thought or profession of religion, there would be more hope of thy recovery. The religion of the Lord Jesus is either true or false: there is no medium: if it be false, it is worth nothing; and therefore it is quite reasonable to be cold and indifferent about it: but if it be true, as we are sure, on the most satisfactory evidence, that it is, it is worth every thing: it is of infinite, because of everlasting worth: it is therefore a most unreasonable thing, not to be deeply concerned about it; even unspeakably more than about any earthly thing whatsoever: and we are inexcusable if we are not so concerned. So then, because thou art lukewarm In a state of indifference, which is as disagreeable to me as lukewarm water is to a mans stomach; I will spew thee out of my mouth I will utterly cast thee from me; that is, unless thou repent.
Rev 3:14-22. The Letter to the Church at Laodicea.Laodicea was 40 miles SE. of Philadelphia and near Coloss. It was famous for its wealth, and when it was overthrown by an earthquake in A.D. 60, it disdained to receive a subsidy from Rome, preferring to restore the damage out of its own resources. It was, according to Sir W. M. Ramsay, one of the great banking and financial centres of the time.
Rev 3:14. the Amen: cf. Isa 65:16 (RVm.), the god of the Amen, here applied to Christ because His character and nature are in themselves a guarantee for the truth of His testimony (Swete).faithful and true witness: cf. Rev 1:5*.the beginning of the creation: cf. Col 1:15, firstborn of all creation. The phrase does not signify that Christ was the first to be created, but rather that He was the principle and source of the creation.
Rev 3:15. neither cold nor hot: Laodicea was free from the vices which corrupted Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis, but it had its own sin, the spirit of indifference.
Rev 3:16. A draught of tepid water provokes nausea, and a tepid Christianity is nauseous to Christ. . . . There is probably an allusion to the hot springs of Hierapolis, which in their way over the plateau become lukewarm, and in that condition discharge themselves over the cliff right opposite to Laodicea (Swete).
Rev 3:17. I am rich: an allusion to the wealth of Laodicea and its self-reliant, self-satisfied spirit.
Rev 3:18. The true wealth can only be obtained from Christ, who alone possesses the unsearchable riches.white garments: in contrast to the garments made of the glossy black wool of the sheep for which Laodicea was renowned.eye-salve: Laodicea was famous for a particular ointment.
Rev 3:19. be zealous: what the church at Laodicea needed was enthusiasm, hence this injunction.
Rev 3:20. stand at the door: the metaphor was probably suggested by Ca. Rev 5:2. Swete thinks the words have an eschatological reference, and indicate the near approach of the Parousia (cf. Mat 24:33, Jas 5:9), but the phrase, if any man hear my voice, seems to indicate that the more common and popular interpretation of the verse is correct.
Rev 3:21. sit with me on my throne: cf. Luk 22:30.
Verse 14
The Amen, &c. The expressions by which Jesus designates himself are varied in the addresses to the several churches. Most of them are based on portions of the general description given of the appearance of the Son of man, as he manifested himself to John. (Revelation 1:13-20.) The Amen is the one who confirms and establishes his word.
3:14 {11} And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the {h} Amen, the faithful and true witness, the {i} beginning of the creation of God;
(11) The seventh passage is to the pastors of the Church of Laodicea. The introduction is taken out of Rev 1:5 .
(h) Amen sounds as much in the Hebrew tongue, as truly, or truth itself.
(i) Of who all things that are made, have their beginning.
G. The letter to the church in Laodicea 3:14-22
Jesus Christ sent this letter to shake the Laodicean Christians out of their self-sufficient complacency and to exhort them to self-sacrifice for higher spiritual goals (cf. Col 2:1-2; Col 4:16).
1. Destination and description of Christ 3:14
The last of the seven cities (modern Eski-hisar, "the old fortress") lay about 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia and 90 miles east of Ephesus. It was a wealthy town that specialized in banking, producing black woolen cloth, and health care. It had suffered a severe earthquake that had destroyed it, but its prosperous citizens had rebuilt it.
Jesus Christ called Himself the "Amen" (lit. So be it). We should probably understand this title as a testimony to His ability to produce what He predicts (cf. Isa 65:16). As a "Witness," His testimony to the situation in Laodicea was trustworthy. The Laodiceans had a reputation for saying and doing whatever was necessary to preserve their own wellbeing. [Note: Tatford, pp. 143-44.] In contrast, Jesus spoke the truth. The "Beginning [Origin] of God’s creation" sets forth His authority to pass judgment. The Laodiceans were creative, but Jesus alone was the Creator (cf. Joh 1:3; Col 1:16).
Michael Svigel argued that arche here means ruler (of God’s creation). [Note: Michael J. Svigel, "Christ as ’Arche in Revelation 3:14," Bibliotheca Sacra 161:642 (April-June 2004):215-31.] This rendering is possible, but most translators have believed the meaning is origin or source, which non-Trinitarians have taken as evidence that the Son is a created being.
"The whole tendency of the Johannine writings and of the Apocalypse in particular . . . forbids the interpretation ’the first of creatures.’" [Note: Swete, p. 59.]
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)