Revelation: Church of Laodicea

 Revelation:  Church of Laodicea

To the church of Laodicea 14-22
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodicians 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 were cold or hot.  So then because thou are 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 are 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 eye salve, 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 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.  

Attribute:  The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God.  

This church is in serious trouble.  They are rich and increasing in material wealth.  Laodicea is known for their wealth and known as a banking center.  They had a famous medical school.  So they are very comfortable, self-confident, self-satisfied and complacent.  They think they are alright with the Lord.  What they are doing is playing both sides.  But they don’t know how very destitute they really are.

V 15    The Lord says I would rather you be one or the other.  

Hot means to be fervent-fervent for the Lord.  
Cold is not walking with the Lord but is able to be persuaded when confronted with the truth.  

V 16    But lukewarm is a very danger position.    They are contented.  They think they have no need.  They are ok financially, socially, they are just contented.
The Lord say He will spue or vomit them out of His mouth.  He will fling them away by force.

V17    In the case with Laodicea they are so wealthy they have no need of any material things and full of pride of what they do have.

Mark 10:17-27 story of the rich man.
V27 Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
    * this is not impossible, just hard
    * eye of the needle is a small gate in Jerusalem
    * the camel has to be unloaded, brought to it's knees and shimmied     
        through the gate.

 Like a young woman that I once knew:  She is from a well-to-do family, self-sufficient;  she told me, "I don't need Him."

It isn't just rich people that are contented either.  It is hard to get people in this position to see the truth.  

Jesus said they don't even know they are wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

Wretched––According to Webster's dictionary:  a pitiable person, a poor little person; a banished person, an exile; driven out.

V18    
Buy of Me gold tried in fire, that you may be rich (truly rich)

Gold represents true riches and high quality tried in fire so it is pure.
*Proverbs 23:23-24 Buy the truth

Proverbs 4:1-7 Wisdom is the principal thing = meaning beginning, the first, the chief, the best, the firstfruits.  Used 51 times "it holds the honor of being the first word written in the entire Bible! (Genesis 1:1––In the beginning)

The Word of God is true, fine Gold which brings us salvation, righteousness, brings us into right standing with God, cleans us up and makes us whole.
Isaiah 55:1-2 Buy without money
Reminder:  Proverbs 23:23––Buy the truth and sell it not...

White raiment:
Isaiah 61:10 robe in righteousness
    Matthew 22:12 man came without wedding garment; called friend
    2 Corinthians 5:21 ...we made the righteousness of God in Him
    1 Peter 5:5 clothed in humility
    Ephesians 4:22-24 you do!

Nakedness = being worldly, a person caring more about life here on earth than the Word of God in their life and living it.  It not having the righteousness of God in our lives.

Eye salve = poultice to put on eyes for healing
––the world will put a lot of trash out there in pictures an in writing and the demons will make sure we see them.
Remedy:  Psalm 17: 15 ...behold Your face in righteousness...
           Hebrews 12:2-3 Looking unto Jesus...        read in Holman
That is a lot to think about!!––to keep our eyes on.

V19    Job 5:17 Happy is the man whom God corrects:  therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.

V20    Jesus is calling to them.  Picture of Jesus standing at the door.










V 14   This is where this attribute fits:  

Amen 281 means firm, trustworthy; surely.
Faithful 4103 trustworthy, trustful, faithful, sure, true.  Worthy of belief, trust, or confidence, faithful, worthy of credit.  Faithful in duty to oneself and to others of true fidelity––(Webster's––faithfulness, adherence to right; careful and exact observance of duty or discharge of obligations.  Adherence to a person or party to which one is bound; loyalty)
True 228 alethinos true, real, genuine.  Conformed to the truth.  Real, unfeigned, not fictitious.  i.e. loving truth, veracious (observant of the truth; habitually speaking the truth; truthful.)
Witness 3144 one who testifies or can testify to the truth of what he has seen, heard, knows.  Especially of those who witnessed the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who bear witness to the truth as it is in Jesus, and testifies to the world what God reveals through Him (A Martyr, One who by His death bears witness to the truth.)
the Beginning of the creations of God.   The Originator and cause of creation


God wants the Laodiceans and us to be trustworthy and faithful to Him.  To be true, genuine, conformed to the Truth and unfeigned––not fictitious and to be a good, true witness of these things, and to Him before others to the point of dying for the Truth if need be.

 In verse 20, He wants to have true fellowship with these people and with us.  He wants us to see how rewarding that fellowship is.  To him that repents and overcomes:

Reward:  “I will make to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.”