“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.’” Revelation 3:14-16.
The above has been included for context; this post will cover Revelation 3:17-22.
“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked – I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” Revelation 3:17-18.
“Wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”, reminds one of the “Kings Clothes”, the story about the king who was fooled by a flim-flam man who sold him some beautiful invisible clothes, and it seems that the king being too proud to admit that he had been fooled wore those clothes.
The king’s subjects did not want to embarrass him so they complimented him on his lovely attire. All went well until one day during a processional a little boy shouted out “Hey look the king ain’t got no clothes on!”
It would be better for the Laodicean church to take the Lord’s counsel now and save themselves the shame of having their sins brought out at the judgment seat of Christ.
“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:10-12.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10.
“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13.
This accounting extends to the shepherds which Jesus Christ the Chief Shepherd has put over His flock. It is also true that Christ’s shepherds will be held to a higher standard.
“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.” Hebrews 13:17.
“The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” 1 Peter 5:1-4.
For those of you who are or aspire to be shepherds over the Lord’s flock, think hard and carefully about what you think is your calling. It is a huge physical, mental and spiritual task with dire consequences for those who are neither gifted nor called to this important work.
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” James 3:1.
“Buy from Me gold refined in the fire”, Christ is the gold refined in the fire, and the Laodicean church was stunningly rich. But this is gold that man cannot buy, nor can you put a price on it. Listen to the Lord’s call to all men.
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1.
No matter how rich or poor you are, salvation is bought without money, it is free, yet it has been paid for by another.
“…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18-19.
“White garments, that you may be clothed”, again, Laodicea was rich from the luxurious black wool that they produced, yet it was the white garments of righteousness that they needed and this comes only through salvation in Christ Jesus.
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him [Jesus Christ] glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife [all Christians] has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Revelation 19:7-8.
This is a spiritual nakedness, folks would look at the outward appearance of the church and see beauty, yet it is as the Lord said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:27-28.
“…anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see”, one of the predominant characteristics of modern churches is the total lack of dependence on the Holy Spirit or even mention of Him.
Many of the charismatic churches on the other hand invoke the Holy Spirit and even worship Him but they pay little attention to what He has to say through study of Scripture, both extremes are unbalanced.
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” John 16:13-15.
He is here to guide us into all truth. We are blind if we do not listen to the Holy Spirit and we do not have the Holy Spirit if we have not accepted Christ as our Savior.
“So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Romans 8:8-9.
With these characteristics in mind we can see why the Lord called Himself the Amen. If Amen means as mentioned earlier that, “through Him [Jesus] the purposes of God are established”, then it can be stated that God’s will is still accomplished whether the church obeys Him or not. However it is the Laodicean church that is the loser.
Jesus is the “Faithful and True Witness” Revelation 3:14b.
“…Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate…” 1 Timothy 6:13b.
As have millions after Him throughout time, but the Laodicean church has no witness, they are simply naked.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2.
As stated at the beginning of this letter, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God…” Revelation 3:14b.
In an age when the whole world stumbles toward Armageddon, calls the theory of evolution a fact, and lives as though it were true, Christ reminds us that He is the Beginning of the creation of all things. He is the Faithful and True Witness.
If the church were true to its mission of making disciples of all mankind and bringing them to a full measure of a man in Christ Jesus the theory of evolution would have choked on its own vomit years ago.
The teaching of evolution has led to monumental calamity in this world, Marx, Lenin, Hitler and Chairman Mao, all atheists and believers that mankind evolved from the muck and has no more value than muck, except for themselves of course.
Communism and socialism are based on evolution.
Children are taught unceasingly that they are nothing but a mass of cells with no value, so drugs, sex, suicide, crime and murder mean no more than their own pointless existence.
Evolution justifies abortion; “it” is nothing more than a mass of goo to be scraped off and tossed into the garbage or to be organ harvested to make money. Yet abortion seems to affect women mentally or physically, it is a dangerous procedure, why?
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:19.
“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20.
It is Christ Jesus who speaks here but it is a real look into the personality of God the Father. God is a gentleman, He stands at the door and knocks, He does not bang on it and He does not kick it down, as many who slander Him say.
In fact the real danger is that He will leave, rather than act like some obnoxious salesman who sticks his foot in the door; folks need to listen. If they open the door He will come in and dine with them, moreover He will bring the food.
This suggests fellowship not just fellowship but fellowship with the Creator of the universe, not some great actor, rock star, or powerful politician, they are nothing compared to Him, all knowing, all wise, and infinitely loving, do not pass this one up.
“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’” Revelation 3:21-22.
Revelation 3:17-22 taken from godisrevealed.com updated on 10-8-16, reposted on 5-20-22.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.