seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 3:1 “To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b] of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
7 “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. 13 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
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. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
a. Revelation 3:1 Or messenger; also in verses 7 and 14
b. Revelation 3:1 That is, the sevenfold Spirit
This chapter is about three more churches. There was Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. The last church tho.... that's the one that I remember so clearly.
Jesus told John that Laodicea was lukewarm..... and He wanted to spit them out.
This is from a posting from back in October 2015.
The easy english commentary says this.
Laodicea was furthest south from the 7 churches. It was almost east from Ephesus. It was in the valley of the Lycus River. It was on the road that came from Ephesus. The road continued to Syria and then to Asia. It was the most important road in Asia. Laodicea was one of the richest trade centres in the world. It was a centre with many banks. It was also the centre of the courts. Like Sardis, it was also a centre of the cloth trade. It was famous for clothing and woollen carpets. They made the clothes from a local black wool. They were proud of these clothes. But they did not realise something. They were naked in the sight of God.
Laodicea also had a famous medical school. The doctors there dealt with people’s eyes. They were very good at that. They produced a special eye *ointment. It came from a rock in the area. There is a reference to these three activities in verses 17 and 18. The Lord has hard things to say to the Christians in this church.
There was a very severe earthquake in AD 60. The people, however, were very rich. They liked to help themselves. So they refused help from the Romans. This is not surprising. They thought that they did not need anything. They were so wealthy that they did not even need God.
We know nothing about the history of this church. We do not know who started it. Epaphras preached there. So he may have started the church. Paul wrote a letter to the church in Laodicea. This letter has been lost, although some say that it is our letter to the Ephesians.
An early Christian writer says that Archippus was the first bishop of the church in Laodicea. Paul mentions this man in his letter to the Colossians. This is what he says to him. ‘See that you complete the service which you have received from the Lord’. Maybe Archippus was not doing his job very well. This was, however, 30 years before the churches received the letters in Revelation.
I need to remind myself.... the churches that John is seeing in this chapter were healthy and working when John was on the Island having this vision. They were all still very excited about spreading the Word. Jesus had walked out of the tomb and the government was covering it up.... so the zeal of the new church was still alive and well when John was on the island writing this down. I need to remind myself..... the churches that John is shown in this chapter [in their various states of demise] are the churches of the future.
This morning I can feel the anxiety. We are under a self quarantine. We have been avoiding the outside world for several days now..... but it is beginning to feel like it has been weeks. Neither of us is sick..... but we want to keep it that way. I find it interesting that the richest of cities.... like Laodicea with all of it's medical prowess is gone..... totally gone.... couldn't they get masks either?
