Jude: The Acts of the Apostate: High Handed Sins (vv.5-7).pptx
Revelation 3 14 22 commentary
1. REVELATIO 3 14-22 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
To the Church in Laodicea
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and
true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
1. BAR ES, "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
2. 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 - ᅊρχᆱ
archē. 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.
2. CLARKE, "These things saith the Amen - That is, He who is true or faithful;
from אמן aman, he was tree; immediately interpreted, The faithful and true witness. See
Rev_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 (note). By his titles, here, he prepares
3. them for the humiliating and awful truths which he was about to declare, and the
authority on which the declaration was founded.
3. GILL, "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,.... Of the
city of Laodicea; see Gill on Rev_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, Rev_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, Rev_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, Rev_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
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 נאמן מלך ,אל "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 Rev_1:18.
4. The faithful and true witnessThe faithful and true witnessThe faithful and true witnessThe faithful and true witness; who as he was in the days of his flesh; see Gill on Rev_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, Rev_3:15; and to engage it to take his advice the more readily,
Rev_3:18; and to assure it of the nearness of his coming, Rev_3:20; and to strengthen the faith of
his people, and quicken their hope and expectation of the happiness with him promised,
Rev_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 ומהימן קשוט ,לסהיך "for a true and faithful witness"; the
very phrase here used,
The beginning of the creation of GodThe beginning of the creation of GodThe beginning of the creation of GodThe 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 Gen_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 מקום של בריותיו ,תחלת "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 αρχη, "the Prince", or Governor of all creatures,
4. HE RY, "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
5. 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 Rev_1:5, 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.
5. JAMISO , "Laodiceans — The city was in the southwest of Phrygia, on the river
Lycus, not far from Colosse, and lying between it and Philadelphia. It was destroyed by
an earthquake, a.d. 62, and rebuilt by its wealthy citizens without the help of the state
[Tacitus, Annals, 14.27]. This wealth (arising from the excellence of its wools) led to a
self-satisfied, lukewarm state in spiritual things, as Rev_3:17 describes. See on Col_4:16,
on the Epistle which is thought to have been written to the Laodicean Church by Paul.
The Church in latter times was apparently flourishing; for one of the councils at which
the canon of Scripture was determined was held in Laodicea in a.d. 361. Hardly a
Christian is now to be found on or near its site.
the Amen — (Isa_65:16, Hebrew, “Bless Himself in the God of Amen ... swear by the
God of Amen,” 2Co_1:20). He who not only says, but is, the Truth. The saints used Amen
at the end of prayer, or in assenting to the word of God; but none, save the Son of God,
ever said, “Amen, I say unto you,” for it is the language peculiar to God, who avers by
Himself. 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, etc.; in English Version,” Verily, verily.”
The title happily harmonizes with the address. His unchanging faithfulness as “the
Amen” contrasts with Laodicea’s wavering of purpose, “neither hot nor cold” (Rev_3:16).
The angel of Laodicea has with some probability been conjectured to be Archippus, to
whom, thirty years previously, Paul had already given a monition, as needing to be
stirred up to diligence in his ministry. So the Apostolic Constitutions, [8.46], name him
as the first bishop of Laodicea: supposed to be the son of Philemon (Phm_1:2).
faithful and true witness — As “the Amen” expresses the unchangeable truth of His
promises; so “the faithful the true witness,” the truth of His revelations as to the
heavenly things which He has seen and testifies. “Faithful,” that is, trustworthy
(2Ti_2:11, 2Ti_2:13). “True” is here (Greek, “alethinos”) not truth-speaking (Greek,
“alethes”), but “perfectly realizing all that is comprehended in the name Witness”
(1Ti_6:13). Three things are necessary for this: (1) to have seen with His own eyes what
He attests; (2) to be competent to relate it for others; (3) to be willing truthfully to do so.
In Christ all these conditions meet [Trench].
beginning of the creation of God — not he whom God created first, but as in
Col_1:15-18 (see on Col_1:15-18), the Beginner of all creation, its originating instrument.
All creation would not be represented adoring Him, if He were but one of themselves.
6. His being the Creator is a strong guarantee for His faithfulness as “the Witness and
Amen.”
6. PULPIT, "The epistle to the Church in Laodicea. Laodicea, on the Lycus, a tributary of the
Maeander, lay some fifty miles to the south-east of Philadelphia. The modern Turkish
name, Eskihissar,signifies "the old castle." It is situated on the western side of the valley of the
Lycus, on the opposite slopes of which, some six or eight miles distant, were Hierapolis and
Colossae, with which it is associated by St. Paul (Col_4:13, Col_4:16). Named at first Diosopolis,
after its tutelary deity, Zeus, it subsequently became Rheas, and finally received its name from
Antiochus II., in honour of his wife, Laodice. There were several other cities of the same name, from
which it was distinguished by the addition of the words, "on the Lycus." It was a wealthy city, its
trade consisting chiefly in the preparation of woollen materials. It was advantageously situated, too,
on the high road leading from Ephesus into the interior. Though, in common with the other cities of
Asia Minor, visited by earthquakes, it quickly recovered; and it was the proud boast of the
Laodiceans that, unlike Ephesus and Sardis, they required no extraneous assistance to enable
them to regain their former prosperity. This fact undoubtedly explains the temptations to which the
Laodiceans were liable, and the reference in Rev_3:16 to those who were neither cold nor hot, and
that in Rev_3:17 to those who said they were rich and had need of nothing (see
on Rev_3:16, Rev_3:17). The Christian Church there may have been founded by Epaphras, through
whom St. Paul probably learned of the existence of false doctrine there
(Col_2:4, Col_2:8 and Col_1:8), for the Epistle to the Colossians seems to be equally addressed to
the Laodiceans (Col_4:16). The importance of this Church continued for some time, the celebrated
Council of Laodicea being held there in A.D. 361, and a century later its bishop held a prominent
position. But its influence gradually waned, and the Turks pressed hardly upon it; so that at the
present time it is little more than a heap of ruins. The warnings of the Apostles SS. Paul and John, if
heeded at all for a time, were forgotten, and her candlestick was removed.
Rev_3:14
And unto the angel. Those expositors who understand "the angel" of a Church to signify its
chief officer, may with some plausibility argue that at Laodicea it seems almost certain that this was
Archippus. In his Epistle to Philemon, a wealthy convert of Colossae, St. Paul sends greeting to
Archippus (Phm_1:2). If Archippus were the son of philemon, he might very well have been Bishop
of Laodicea at the time of St. John's message. Moreover, the son of a wealthy and influential
Christian, though likely to have been selected as bishop in the neighbouring Church, may have
lacked the zeal necessary for the thorough performance of his work; and would thus incur the
marked rebuke of St. Paul, "Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in
the Lord, that thou fulfil it" (Col_4:17), which appears immediately after the mention of the
Laodicean Church. The Apostolical Constitutions also assert that Archippus was first Bishop of
Laodicea. Of the Church of the Laodiceans write; or, of the Church in Laodicea ( τῆς ἐν Λαοδικαίᾳ
ἐκκλησίας ). These things saith the Amen. The word "Amen" is here used as a proper name of our
Lord; and this is the only instance of such an application. It signifies the "True One." It is a word
much used in St. John's Gospel, where it appears repeated at the commencement of many
discourses, "Verily, verily." In Isa_65:16 "the God of Amen" ( ðí )) is rendered in the LXX.
by ἀληθινός ; in the Authorized Version by "truth" (cf. the use of the English "very" as an adjective
—"the very one," i.e. the real or true one). The term is peculiarly well adapted to our Lord (who is
the Truth, Joh_14:6), not only as a general name or title, but especially in connexion with this
solemn announcement to the Laodiceans. There was great need of the truth being openly
proclaimed by him who is the Truth to those who, though nominally Christians, were ensnared by
the deceitfulness of riches (Mat_13:22), and were deceiving themselves in the attempt to make the
best of both worlds by their lukewarm Christianity. It was the purpose of this epistle to draw aside
the veil which was hiding the truth from their eyes, and to bring them to a realization of that most
7. difficult of all knowledge—a knowledge of self. The faithful and true Witness—an amplification of
"the Amen." The epithet "faithful" asserts the truthfulness of Christ's work as a Witness; "true"
( ἀληθινός ) signifies "real and complete." He is a faithful Witness because his witness is true; and
he is a true Witness because in him is the complete realization of all the qualifications which
constitute any one really and truly a witness. "Faithful" ( πιστός ) has the passive meaning of "that
which is worthy of faith," not the active meaning of "he who believes something." Trench well points
out that God can only be faithful in the former sense; man may be faithful in beth senses. Christ was
a Witness worthy of faith, since he possessed all the attributes of such a witness. He
(1) had seen what he attested;
(2) was competent to relate and reproduce this information;
(3) was willing to do this faithfully and truly.
The Beginning of the creation of God. There are two ways in which these words might be
understood:
(1) that in which "beginning" is taken in a passive sense, and which would therefore make Christ
the first created thing of all the things which God created;
(2) the active sense, by which Christ is described as the Beginner, the Author, Moving Principle or
Source of all the things which God created. That the latter meaning is the true one is plain from the
whole tenor of Holy Scripture. The Ariaus, attempting to disprove the Divinity of our Lord, quoted
this passage, attributing to it the former sense. But ἀρχή is often used actively, and may well be so
used here—a view which is confirmed by the abundant evidence of our Lord's Divinity found
elsewhere in the Bible, and nowhere more plainly asserted than in the writings of St. John. The self-
reliant Laodiceans are thus directed to place their trust in him who is the Source of all things, rather
than in those created things of which he is the Creator.
7. BARCLAY, “LAODICEA, THE CHURCH CONDEMNED
Laodicea has the grim distinction of being the only Church of which the Risen Christ has nothing
good to say.
In the ancient world there were at least six cities called Laodicea and this one was called
Laodicea on the Lycus to distinguish it from the others. It was founded about 250 B.C. by
Antiochus of Syria and was named after his wife Laodice.
Its importance was due entirely to its position. The road from Ephesus to the east and to Syria
was the most important in Asia. It began at the coast at Ephesus and it had to find a way to climb
up to the central plateau 8,500 feet up. It set out along the valley of the River Maeander until it
reached what were known as the Gates of Phrygia. Beyond this point lay a broad valley where
Lydia, Phrygia and Caria met. The Maeander entered that valley by a narrow, precipitous gorge
through which no road could pass. The road, therefore, detoured through the Lycus valley. In that
valley Laodicea stood.
It was literally astride the great road to the east which went straight through Laodicea, entering by
the Ephesian Gate and leaving by the Syrian Gate. That in itself would have been enough to
make Laodicea one of the great commercial and strategic centres of the ancient world. Originally
Laodicea had been a fortress; but it had the serious handicap that all its water supply had to
come by underground aqueduct from springs no less than six miles away, a perilous situation for
a town besieged. Two other roads passed through the gates of Laodicea, that from Pergamum
and the Hermus Valley to Pisidia and Pamphylia and the coast at Perga and that from eastern
8. Caria to central and west Phrygia.
As Ramsay says: "It only needed peace to make Laodicea a great commercial and financial
centre." That peace came with the dominion of Rome. When the Roman peace gave it its
opportunity it became, as Pliny called it, "a most distinguished city."
Laodicea had certain characteristics which have left their mark on the letter written to it.
(i) It was a great banking and financial centre. When Cicero was travelling in Asia Minor it was at
Laodicea that he cashed his letters of credit. It was one of the wealthiest cities in the world. In
A.D. 61 it was devastated by an earthquake; but so rich and independent were its citizens that
they refused any help from the Roman government and out of their own resources rebuilt their
city. Tacitus writes: "One of the most famous cities of Asia, Laodicea, was in that same year
overthrown by an earthquake and without any relief from us recovered itself by its own resources"
(Tacitus: Annals 14: 27). No wonder that Laodicea could boast that it was rich and had amassed
wealth and had need of nothing. It was so wealthy that it did not even need God.
(ii) It was a great centre of clothing manufacture. The sheep which grazed round Laodicea were
famous for their soft, violet-black, glossy wool. It mass-produced cheap outer garments. It was
specially connected with a tunic called the trimita, so much so, indeed, that it was sometimes
called Trimitaria. Laodicea was so proud of the garments it produced that it never realized it was
naked in the sight of God.
(iii) It was a very considerable medical centre. Thirteen miles to the west, between Laodicea and
the Gate of Phrygia, stood the temple of the Carian god Men. At one time that temple was the
social, administrative and commercial centre of the whole area. Until less than a hundred years
ago great markets were regularly held on its site. In particular the temple was the centre of a
medical school which was transferred to Laodicea itself. So famous were its doctors that the
names of some appear on the coins of Laodicea. Two of them were called Zeuxis and Alexander
Philalethes.
This medical school was famous for two things throughout the world, ointment for the ear and
ointment for the eyes. The King James and Revised Standard Versions speak of eye-salve. The
word for salve is kollourion (GSN2854) which literally means a little roll of bread. The reason for
the word is that this famous tephra Phrygia, Phrygian powder, was exported all over the world in
solidified tablet form in the shape of little rolls. Laodicea was so conscious of its medical skill in
the care of the eyes that it never realized that it was spiritually blind.
The words of the Risen Christ arise directly from the prosperity and the skill in which Laodicea
took so much pride and which had in the minds of its citizens, and even of its Church, eliminated
the need for God.
(iv) We add a final fact about Laodicea. It was in an area where there was a very large Jewish
population. So many Jews emigrated here that the Rabbis inveighed against the Jews who
sought the wines and baths of Phrygia. In 62 B.C. Flaccus, the governor of the province, became
alarmed at the amount of currency which the Jews were exporting in payment of the Temple tax
which every male Jew paid and put an embargo on the export of currency. The result was that
twenty pounds weight of gold was seized as contraband in Laodicea and one hundred pounds in
Apameia in Phrygia. That amount of gold would be equal to 15,000 silver drachmae. The Jewish
Temple tax amounted to half a shekel, which was equal to two drachmae. This means that in the
district there were at least 7,500 male Jews. In Hierapolis, six miles away from Laodicea, there
was a "Congregation of Jews" which had power to levy and to retain fines, and an archive office
where Jewish legal documents were specially kept. There can have been few areas where the
Jews were wealthier and more influential.
LAODICEA, THE CLAIMS OF CHRIST
9. Rev. 3:14-22 (continued)
Of all the seven Churches that of Laodicea is most unsparingly condemned. In it there is no
redeeming feature. It is interesting to note that the third century work The Apostolic Constitutions
(8: 46) says that Archippus was the first Bishop of the Church in Laodicea. When Paul was writing
to the neighbouring Church of Colossae, he says sternly: "Say to Archippus, See that you fulfil the
ministry which you have received in the Lord" (Col.4:17). It would seem that Archippus was
somehow failing in his duty. That was thirty years before the Revelation was written; but it may be
that as long ago as that the rot had set in in the Church in Laodicea and an unsatisfactory
ministry had sown the seeds of degeneration.
Like all the letters it begins with a series of great titles of Jesus Christ.
(i) He is the Amen. This is a strange title and may go back to either of two origins.
(a) In Isa.65:16 God is called the God of truth; but in the Hebrew he is called the God of Amen.
Amen is the word which is often put at the end of a solemn statement in order to guarantee its
truth. If God is the God of Amen, he is utterly to be relied upon. This would mean that Jesus
Christ is the One whose promises are true beyond all doubt.
(b) In John's gospel Jesus' statements often begin: "Truly, truly, I say to you" (e.g. Jn.1:51;
Jn.3:3,5,11). The Greek for truly is Amen. It is possible that when Jesus Christ is called the Amen
it is a reminiscence of his own way of speaking. The meaning would be the same, Jesus is one
whose promises can be relied upon.
(ii) He is the witness on whom we can rely and who is true. Trench points out that a witness must
satisfy three essential conditions. (a) He must have seen with his own eyes that of which he tells.
(b) He must be absolutely honest, so that he repeats with accuracy that which he has heard and
seen. (c) He must have the ability to tell what he has to say, so that his witness may make its true
impression on those who hear. Jesus Christ perfectly satisfied these conditions. He can tell of
God, because he came from him. We can rely on his words for he is the Amen. He is able to tell
his message, for never did man speak as he did.
(iii) As the Revised Standard Version has it, he is the beginning of God's creation. This phrase, as
it stands in English, is ambiguous. It could mean, either, that Jesus was the first person to be
created or that he began the process of creation, as Trench put it, "dynamically the beginning." It
is the second meaning which is intended here. The word for beginning is arche (GSN0746). In
early Christian writings we read that Satan is the arche (GSN0746) of death, that is to say, death
takes its origin in him; and that God is the arche (GSN0746) of all things, that is, all things find
their beginning in him.
The connection of the Son with creation is frequently made in the New Testament. John begins
his gospel by saying of the Word: "All things were made through him, and without him was not
anything made that was made" (Jn.1:3). "In him," says Paul, "all things were created"
(Col.1:15,18). The insistence on the Son's part in creation was due to the heretics who explained
sin and disease by saying that the world had been created by a false and inferior god. It is the
Christian insistence that this world is God's creation and that its sin and sorrow are not his fault,
but are caused by the disobedience of men. As the Christian sees it, the God of creation and the
God of redemption are one and the same.
LAODICEA, NEITHER ONE THING NOR ANOTHER
Rev. 3:14-22 (continued)
The condemnation of Laodicea begins with a picture of almost crude vividness; because the
10. Laodiceans are neither cold nor hot, they have about them a kind of nauseating quality, which will
make the Risen Christ vomit them out of his mouth.
The exact meaning of the words is to be noted. Cold is psuchros (GSN5593); and it can mean
cold to the point of freezing. Ecclesiasticus (Sir.43:20) speaks of the cold north wind which makes
the ice congeal upon the waters. Hot is zestos (GSN2200); and it means hot to boiling point.
Tepid is chliaros (GSN5513). Things which are tepid often have a nauseating effect. Hot food and
cold food can both be appetizing, but tepid food will often make the stomach turn. Directly
opposite Laodicea, on the other bank of the Lycus, and in full view, stood Hierapolis, famous for
its hot mineral springs. Often hot mineral springs are nauseating in their taste and make the
person who drinks them want to be physically sick. That is the way in which the Church at
Laodicea affected the Risen Christ. Here is something to make us think:
(i) The one attitude which the Risen Christ unsparingly condemns is indifference. It has been said
that an author can write a good biography if he loves his subject or hates him but not if he is
coldly indifferent. Of all things indifference is the hardest to combat. The problem of modern
evangelism is not hostility to Christianity; it would be better if it were so. The problem is that to so
many Christianity and the Church have ceased to have any relevance and men regard them with
complete indifference. This indifference can be broken down only by the actual demonstration
that Christianity is a power to make life strong and a grace to make life beautiful.
(ii) The one impossible attitude to Christianity is neutrality. Jesus Christ works through men; and
the man who remains completely detached in his attitude to him has by that very fact refused to
undertake the work which is the divine purpose for him. The man who will not submit to Christ has
necessarily resisted him.
(iii) Hard as it may sound, the meaning of this terrible threat of the Risen Christ is that it is better
not even to start on the Christian way than to start and then to drift into a conventional and
meaningless Christianity. The fire must be kept burning. There is an unwritten saying of Jesus:
"He who is near me is near the fire." And the way to "maintain the spiritual glow" (Rom.12:11,
Moffatt) is to live close to Christ.
LAODICEA, THE WEALTH THAT IS POVERTY
Rev. 3:14-22 (continued)
The tragedy of Laodicea was that it was convinced of its own wealth and blind to its own poverty.
Humanly speaking, anyone would say that there was not a more prosperous town in Asia Minor.
Spiritually speaking, the Risen Christ declares that there was not a more poverty-stricken
community. Laodicea prided itself on three things; and each is taken in turn and shown at its true
value.
(i) It prided itself on its financial wealth. It was rich and had acquired wealth and had need of
nothing--so it thought. The Risen Christ advises Laodicea to buy gold refined in the fire. It may be
that gold tried in the fire stands for faith for it is thus that Peter describes faith (1Pet.1:7). Wealth
can do much but there are things that it can never do. It cannot buy happiness nor give a man
health either of body or of mind; it cannot bring comfort in sorrow nor fellowship in loneliness. If all
that a man has to meet life with is wealth, he is poor indeed. But if a man has a faith tried and
refined in the crucible of experience, there is nothing which he cannot face; and he is rich indeed.
(ii) Laodicea prided itself on its clothing trade. The garments made there were famous over all the
world, and the wool of the sheep of Laodicea was a luxury article which all men knew, But, says
the Risen Christ, Laodicea is spiritually naked; if it wants really to be clothed it must come to him.
The Risen Christ speaks of "the shame of the nakedness of Laodicea."
This would mean even more in the ancient world than now. In the ancient world to be stripped
11. naked was the worst humiliation. It was thus that Hanum treated the servants of David
(2Sam.10:4). The threat to Egypt is that Assyria will lead her people naked and barefoot
(Isa.20:4). It was Ezekiel's threat to Israel that her enemies would strip her of her clothes
(Eze.16:37-39; Eze.23:26-29; compare Hos.2:3,9; Mic.1:8,11). God's threat passed on by Nahum
to the disobedient people was: "I will let nations look on your nakedness, and on your kingdoms
shame" (Nah.3:5). On the other hand, to be clothed in fine raiment was the greatest honour.
Pharaoh honoured Joseph by clothing him in vestures of fine linen (Gen.41:42). Daniel is clothed
in purple by Belshazzar (Dn.5:29). The royal apparel is for the man whom the king honours
(Esth.6:6-11). When the prodigal son returns, it is the best robe that is put upon him (Lk.15:22).
Laodicea prides itself on the magnificent garments it produces but spiritually it is naked and
nakedness is shame. The Risen Christ urges it to buy white raiment from him. This may well
stand for the beauties of life and character which only the grace of Christ can give. There is little
point in a man adorning his body, if he has nothing to adorn his soul. Not all the clothes in the
world will beautify a person whose nature is twisted and whose character is ugly.
(iii) Laodicea prided itself on its famous eye-salve; but the facts of the case show that it was blind
to its own poverty and nakedness. Trench says: "The beginning of all true amendment is to see
ourselves as we are." All eye-salves in the ancient world caused the eyes to smart at their first
application, and Laodicea had no wish to see itself as it was.
LAODICEA, LOVE'S CHASTISEMENT
Rev. 3:14-22 (continued)
Rev. 3:19 is one whose teaching runs throughout Scripture. "I rebuke and discipline all those
whom I love." There is a very lovely thing about the way this is put. It is a quotation from
Prov.3:12, but one word is altered. In the Greek of the Septuagint the word for love is agapan
(GSN0025) which indicates the unconquerable attitude of goodwill which nothing can turn to hate;
but it is a word which maybe has more of the head than the heart in it; and in the quotation the
Risen Christ changes agapan (GSN0025) to philein (GSN5368) which is the most tender
affection. We might well paraphrase it: "It is the people who are dearest to me on whom I exercise
the sternest discipline."
Let us first take the word rebuke. The Greek is elegchein (GSN1651) and it describes the kind of
rebuke which compels a man to see the error of his ways. Elegchos (GSN1650) is the
corresponding noun, and Aristotle defines it: "Elegchos (GSN1650) is the proof that a thing
cannot be otherwise than we say." The most vivid example of this kind of rebuke is the way in
which Nathan opened David's eyes to his sin (2Sam.12:1-14). The rebuke of God is not so much
punishment as illumination.
Let us see how the idea of discipline runs through the Bible.
lt is very characteristic of the teaching of Proverbs. "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he
who loves him is diligent to discipline him" (Prov.13:24). "Withhold not correction from the child;
for, if you beat him with a rod he will not die. If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from
Sheol" (Prov.23:13-14). "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" (Prov.27:6). "The rod and reproof
give wisdom; but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. . . . Discipline your son and he
will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart" (Prov.29:15,17). "Blessed is the man whom
thou dost chasten, O Lord, and whom thou dost teach out of thy law" (Ps.94:12). "Behold, happy
is the man whom God reproves; therefore, despise not the chastening of the Almighty" (Jb.5:17).
"We are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned along with the world"
(1Cor.11:32). "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he
receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is testing you as sons; for what son is
there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons" (Heb.11:6,8). "He that loveth his son
12. will continue to lay stripes upon him, that he may have joy of him in the end. He that chastiseth
his son shall have profit of him and shall glory of him among his acquaintances" (Ecc.30:1).
It is, in fact, God's final punishment to leave a man alone. "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him
alone" (Hos.4:17). As Trench has it: "The great Master-builder squares and polishes with many
strokes of the chisel and hammer the stones which shall find a place at last in the walls of the
heavenly Jerusalem.... It is the crushed grape, and not the untouched, from which the costly
liquor distils." There is no surer way of allowing a child to end in ruin than to allow him to do as he
likes. It is a fact of life that the best athlete and the finest scholar receive the most demanding
training. The discipline of God is not something which we should resent, but something for which
we should be devoutly thankful.
LAODICEA, THE CHRIST WHO KNOCKS
Rev. 3:14-22 (continued)
In Rev. 3:20 we have one of the most famous pictures of Jesus in the whole New Testament.
"Behold," says the Risen Christ, "I am standing at the door and knocking." This picture has been
derived from two different sources.
(i) It has been taken as a warning that the end is near, and that the Coming of Christ is at hand.
The Christian must be ready to open whenever he hears his Lord knocking (Lk.12:36). When the
signs come, the Christian will know that the last time is near, even at the doors (Mk.13:29;
Matt.24:33). The Christian must live well and live in love because the judge is standing at the
doors (Jas.5:9). It is true that the New Testament uses this picture to express the imminence of
the coming of Christ. If that is the picture here, this phrase contains a warning and tells men to
have a care, for Jesus Christ the Judge and King is at the door.
(ii) We cannot say that that meaning is impossible and yet it does not seem to fit the context, for
the atmosphere of the passage is not so much warning as love. It is much better to take this
saying of Christ as expressing the appeal of the lover of the souls of men. The origin of the
passage is much more likely to be in Solomon's Song when the lover stands at the door of his
beloved and pleads with her to open. "Hark! my beloved is knocking. Open to me, my sister, my
love, my dove, perfect one" (SS.5:2-6). Here is Christ the lover knocking at the door of the hearts
of men. And in this picture we see certain great truths of the Christian religion.
(a) We see the pleading of Christ. He stands at the door of the human heart and knocks. The
unique new fact that Christianity brought into this world is that God is the seeker of men. No other
religion has the vision of a seeking God.
In his book Out of Nazareth Donald Baillie cites three witnesses to the uniqueness of this
conception. Montefiore, the great Jewish scholar, said that the one thing which no Jewish prophet
or Rabbi ever conceived of is the "conception of God actually going out in quest of sinful men,
who were not seeking him, but who were turned away from him." The National Christian Council
of Japan in a document found the distinctive difference of Christianity from all other religions in,
"Man not seeking God, but God taking the initiative in seeking man." St. Bernard away back in the
twelfth century used often to say to his monks that, "However early they might wake and rise for
prayer in their chapel on a cold mid-winter morning or even in the dead of night, they would
always find God awake before them, waiting for them--nay, it was he who had awakened them to
seek his face."
Here is the picture of Christ searching for sinful men who did not want him. Surely love can go no
further than that.
(b) We see the offer of Christ. As the King James Version has it, "I will come in and sup with him."
The word translated "sup" is deipnein (GSN1172) and its corresponding noun is deipnon
13. (GSN1173). The Greeks had three meals in the day. There was akratisma, breakfast, which was
no more than a piece of dried bread dipped in wine. There was ariston (GSN0712), the midday
meal. A man did not go home for it; it was simply a picnic snack eaten by the side of the
pavement, or in some colonnade, or in the city square. There was deipnon (GSN1173); this was
the evening meal; the main meal of the day; people lingered over it, for the day's work was done.
It was the deipnon (GSN1173) that Christ would share with the man who answered his knock, no
hurried meal, but that where people lingered in fellowship. If a man will open the door, Jesus
Christ will come in and linger long with him.
(iii) We see human responsibility. Christ knocks and a man can answer or refuse to answer.
Christ does not break in; he must be invited in. Even on the Emmaus road, "He appeared to be
going further" (Lk.24:28). Holman Hunt was right when in his famous picture The Light of the
World he painted the door of the human heart with no handle on the outside, for it can be opened
only from within. As Trench has it: "Every man is lord of the house of his own heart; it is his
fortress; he must open the gates of it," and he has "the mournful prerogative and privilege of
refusing to open." The man who refuses to open is "blindly at strife with his own blessedness." He
is a "miserable conqueror."
Christ pleads and offers; but it is all to no avail if a man will not open the door.
THIS MEANS YOU
Rev. 3:14-22 (continued)
The promise of the Risen Christ is that the victor will sit with him in his own victorious throne. We
will get the picture right if we remember that the eastern throne was more like a couch than a
single seat. The victor in life will share the throne of the victorious Christ.
Every letter finishes with the words: "Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the
Churches." This saying does two things.
(i) It individualizes the message of the letters. It says to every man: "This means you." So often
we listen to a message which comes through a preacher and apply it to everyone but ourselves.
In our heart of hearts we believe that the stern words cannot possibly be meant for us and that
the promises are too good to be true for us. This phrase says to every one of us: "All these things
are meant for you."
(ii) It generalizes the message of the letters. It means that their message was not confined to the
people in the seven Churches nineteen hundred years ago, but that through them the Spirit is
speaking to every man in every generation. We have set these letters carefully against the local
situations to which they were addressed; but their message is not local and temporary. It is
eternal and in them the Spirit still speaks to us.
8. CHARLES SIMEO , “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.
14. 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: ἡἈ ñ ÷ ὴ .], “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 Saviour’s 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
15. 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 man’s 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 man’s 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 world’s standard, but God’s. 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
16. 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.].”]
9. PAUL KRETZMA , “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
17. 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
18. 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.
10. W. BURKITT, “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 onlyprincipium
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.
19. 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.
11L. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “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
20. 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 Hogarth’s 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.” Christ’s 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 God’s 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.
21. 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. Christ’s 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.
22. IV. Three proofs of Christ’s 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
23. 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.—
Christ’s 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
24. 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 Redeemer’s
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 God’s 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 God’s Amen to His eternal purpose.
2. When our Lord actually came upon the earth, He was then God’s Amen to the long
line of prophecies. That babe among the horned oxen, that carpenter’s son, was God’s
declaration that prophesy was the voice of heaven.
3. Christ was God’s 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
25. solemnly put an Amen into what otherwise was but typical and shadowy.
4. Christ is God’s 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 Lord’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 God’s Amen to every believing soul.
1. He is God’s 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 God’s 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
26. 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 man’s 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
earth’s 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 God’s 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
27. 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 heart’s 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 Christ’s 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