When Are We Now?
The first of three studies of The Revelation of Jesus Christ by Paige Ramsey
The Church of Laodicea – Lesson 11
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The Fashionable Church, Lukewarmness, Materialism
Revelation 3:14-22 – “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”
The Church of the Laodiceans is mentioned in Colossians 4:12-17, where the members are told to share the letter (what we know as the book of Colossians) with the Church of Laodicea and likewise, for Laodicea to share the letter they received with the Colossians. We apparently no longer have the letter to the Laodiceans… at least I couldn’t find it listed on the Early Christian Writings
writing of the letter to the Colossians, mentioned in Col. 1:7, 4:12.
The Letter
These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God
– The Amen is a name given to Christ. Isaiah 65:16 says, “So that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My eyes.” The word “truth” here is the Hebrew word “amen”. Amen means “so be it, truth, amen.”
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 Pro_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 אל מלך נאמן,
"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…
2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Jesus is The Amen! So be it in Christ Jesus! Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” What God has said will be done. It must be done. There is no other way. In Him is the way… so be it! Amen! In Him is the life… so be it! Amen! Only in Him is the truth… so be it! Amen!
Not only does He remind the Laodiceans that He is the Amen, but that He is the Faithful and True Witness. He wants them to understand that what He is about to say to them is just. He is faithful and true, and they can believe what He is about to say to them. It is hard sometimes to accept negative criticism about ourselves. Yet, it is imperative that we listen to the truth no matter how hard it is to hear it. Jesus is preparing them for a blast of hard truth.
Are you ready for the Lord to give you a blast of hard truth? _________ Will you be able to accept it and do what He asks?
_________
Then, He also reminds them that He is the Beginning of the creation of God. This is not saying that Jesus is a creation of God. It is saying that Jesus is the Beginning! He is the Creator! John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
John Gill says, “The phrase is Jewish, and it is a title the Jews give to Metatron, by whom they sometimes mean the Messiah.”
Commendations
There are no commendations to the Church of Laodicea. Like the dead Church of Sardis, they are not given any praise for
their works.
Complaints
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. – Here, again… Jesus knows. He knows emphatically and completely down to the intents and desires behind the actions… and He knows they are neither cold nor hot. They were not cold toward the gospel – they did not oppose it, did not fight it, did not speak against it, did not shun it. They acknowledged it, accepted it, and agreed with it. They were also not hot toward the gospel – they were not excited about it, not fervently embracing and studying it, and not on fire to spread its message to others. Why? Because they had never allowed the gospel into their lives! They had the head knowledge, but their hearts were not changed! They nodded their heads during the preaching in agreement, but the Holy Spirit did not abide within. They were lukewarm.
Saul was a person who vehemently opposed the gospel. He went on missions to seek out those who followed Christ and killed their leaders. He was at the stoning of Stephen, one of the first seven deacons. While on his way to find more Christians in Damascus, the Lord struck him with a bright light from heaven. He fell to the ground and clearly heard a Voice speak to him. Saul acknowledged that the Voice was the Lord, but asked who He was – as the Voice had asked why he was persecuting Him. When the Voice identified Himself as Jesus, Saul immediately asked what the Lord wanted him to do. From
that time until his death, Saul – who changed his name to Paul – applied just as much vigor and fervency to spreading the gospel as he had fighting it. He went from cold to hot in minutes.
Do you know anyone who is cold – vehemently fighting against the Lord? __________
Who? ____________________________________________________________________
Do you know anyone who is hot – fervently fighting for the Lord? ___________
Who? ____________________________________________________________________
Yesterday, our pastor reminded us of a truth: “the opposite of love is not hate… rather, it is indifference.”
Laodicea was lukewarm and it was making the Lord sick to His stomach until He would vomit them out of His mouth!
Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — The Laodicean church was wealthy with money. They may have even had a church building to be proud of. They could have easily paid the pastor a good salary so that he would look good in the
community. They looked good when they gathered together – they all had nice clothes, and wore perfumes to smell nice. They enjoyed their social club where they talked about the Lord, and didn’t have any real needs. The biggest thing
that came up in the business meetings wasn’t how to support the missions of Paul (that was covered – they gave more than any of the other churches), nor was it how to reach the other citizens of Laodicea (after all, the town knew they came
every Sunday morning to worship, and if anyone else wanted to come, they were welcome), nor was it how to train for mission work or teaching positions (their pastor taught everyone quite well, and no one was called to the mission field).
No, the biggest thing that came up in the Laodicean business meeting might be that they needed a change in color in the church house, so someone might need to send off to Thyatira to get some madder root paint to spruce up the place. They were indifferent to the spiritual need of others. They were lukewarm Christians.
Does this describe any church you know today? ____________
And yet, they didn’t have a clue that they were wretched in the sight of the Lord – they literally made Him sick! They
didn’t realize how miserable they really were in their social lifestyles – in fact they honestly thought they had it pretty good! But they were missing out on the excitement and blessings of seeing the Lord change their lives and do a mighty work among them. They didn’t realize that in all their wealth, they were spiritually poor. The Holy Spirit did not fill their lives or their worship. The Lord was not leading them – they were carnal, making decisions based upon their own abilities – not upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They were blind to the immeasurable blessings that could have been theirs if they had only been sensitive to the calling of the Lord in their lives. In fact, they were naked before the Lord in their spiritually poverty-stricken state, but happily going about their own way.
Write down your thoughts and any enlightenment the Lord has given you about this:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
The Counsel
I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. – The Laodiceans loved to buy. And so, the Lord counsels them to buy gold from Him – gold that is refined in the fire. How do they buy such gold – how much does it cost? They would have parted with any amount of money, but that wasn’t the price. This fire-refined gold was only bought by the repentance of sin in their lives! They needed to buy white garments by completely trusting in the Lord and not in their own endeavors! Only then could they see the riches of His grace in their lives – only then could they be clothed in His righteousness so that their shameful pride could not be seen. They needed eye salve so they could see. They needed God’s wisdom, the mind of Christ, and not their own limited understanding. Only then could they truly comprehend the ways of the Lord.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. – The Lord is reminding them of His great love for them, even in their unrepentant, miserable state. He is rebuking them; chastening them so that they
will repent and share in the abundant life He has waiting for them.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. – Here is the pitiful state of the Laodicean Church: Christ is not inside the church –
He is on the outside, and finds the door shut in front of Him so that He must knock.
Is Christ standing outside the door of our church? According to this counsel, what must we do to open that door?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Here also, He speaks to the individual – not to the church as a group. He knocks at the door of each individual heart. I
remember that knocking at my own heart. I thought the whole church could hear my heart pounding as I was drawn to go forward after hearing the gospel preached. Opening the door – simply saying, “Yes, Lord, what will you have me do?” And
God did the rest!! He came in – the Holy Spirit took up residence in my heart – my very will, and began to lead me into wonders and blessings of the spiritual life that are endless! And that is not only for me – but for anyone who hears His voice and opens the door!
He promises to dine with us! This is an intimate pastime – dining. It is hard to digest food when we are bothered, upset, or disgusted. We dine with people we enjoy – people we love to be with – people we are close to. We enjoy good food and good conversation with those we cherish. The Lord Jesus, who has said the lukewarmness of the church has made Him sick, now says He wants to dine with them!! If they will only open the door!
The Reward
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. – The greatest of rewards is given to those who overcome their self-centered pride and open the door to Christ: they will sit with Him on His throne!! We will rule with Christ. He calls us brothers, and says we will call Him our brother and be joint heirs with Him of all the riches of the universe! This is overwhelming, but something I do not want to miss! As Paul exhorted Peter to do in 2 Peter 1:10, I will search my heart time and time again to make sure of my calling and election in Christ! I want to know His blessings in this life, and the marvels of the next!
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Is your spiritual ear hearing the message that Christ gave to the church of Laodicea? _______
Does your heart beat with the knocking that the Lord is calling to you? _______ Then listen. Hear.
What is your answer? ________________________________________
The Church of Laodicea represents the state of the Church during the Church Age just after it has gone through the spiritual
revivals and just before the coming of Christ. The dates may be muddied, but roughly they could be from 1930 until the Rapture. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
As we look at the churches in the U.S.A. today, we can see that we have entered the time period represented by the Church
of Laodicea. However, praise the Lord – this isn’t the case for many churches around the world!! In other parts of the world, the church is thriving, excited, doctrinally sound, reaching out to others – even sending missionaries to the United States!! The country that, in the 19th century (during the Philadelphian Church Age) sent missionaries throughout the world needs
missionaries from those very countries to revive us!!
We do not know how long it will be before the coming of the Lord, but we do know that we are in the end time of the last
days – the last days of the end time. While we are living in this Laodicean Church Age, let us be fervently fighting the indifference that can so easily ensnare us because of our wealth. Let us fight the pride that so easily grows within us and not give it any place to stay! We do not have to take on the characteristics of the main-stream churches that are spiritually wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked!