“Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches” (NLT).[1]
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6.
The Promise: to the Overcomers (Revelation 3:21–22).[2] |
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H. The Message to Laodicea: The Church That Is Affluent but Lukewarm & Half-Committed, (Revelation 3:14–22) |
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1. The Recipients
a. The messenger of
the church b. The Laodicean
churchDS1 |
14 And
unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the |
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2. The Speaker:
Jesus |
Amen,
the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; |
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3. The Complaint:
Are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm |
15 I
know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or
hot. |
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4. The Warning:
Will be spit out by Christ |
16 So
then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee
out of my mouth. |
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a. Because of your
false profession: Saying you are rich & in need of nothing b. Because of your
true condition: You are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked |
17 Because
thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;
and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked: |
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5. The Counsel
a. Buy the things
of God, of lasting value 1) Spiritual gold
or wealth 2) White clothing
or righteousness 3) Eye salve or
spiritual sight |
18 I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich;
and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine
eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. |
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b. Know that the
Lord rebukes & chastens c. Be earnest &
repent |
19 As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous; therefore, and repent. |
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d. Hear the Lord:
Open your heart & fellowship with Him |
20 Behold,
I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. |
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6. The Promise:
to the Overcomers a. Will rule with Christ b. Will rule with Christ even as He rules with
His Father |
21 To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. |
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22 He that hath an
ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches.[3]
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9. The Compensation (Revelation 3:21)
“To him that overcometh” (Revelation 3:21). The overcomer here is the one
who overcomes what has defiled the Laodiceans. The emphasis of the text about
the overcomer is upon the compensation the overcomer receives for overcoming
the sinful conditions which plagued the Laodicean church.
• The position in the
compensation. “Sit with me in my throne” (Revelation 3:21). This honor of high position is
position in heaven in eternity. The overcomer may be relegated to a very lowly
and despised position in this life, but in eternity he will have an extremely
high position.
• The presence in the
compensation. “With me” (Revelation
3:21). The promise of being in Christ’s presence will not appeal to the
carnal but it will appeal very much to the spiritual. To be continually in the
presence of some earthly celebrity would be considered a great honor. How much
more honor is to be in the presence of the Savior.
• The precedence in the compensation. “Even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). Christ’s overcoming and resultant compensation of high position is a precedence to the believer’s overcoming and his compensation of high position. If you want the compensation/reward Christ received, you will have to live as Christ lived. Honor does not come without requirements.
10. The Charge (Revelation 3:22)
“He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 3:22). This charge, which is given to
all the churches, is a charge of stewardship that involves three things.
The capacity to hear. “He that hath an
ear.” Use the ability, assets, advantages given you by God to honor
God.
The character of hearing. “Let him hear.”
Be attentive, interested, respectful.
The communication for hearing. “What the Spirit saith.” “What the Spirit saith” is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Too many use their ears only to hear defiling things.[4]
(Re. 3:21–22) Overcomers—The Promise: There Is The Promise to the Overcomers. The promise
is glorious! The overcomer shall sit upon the throne of Christ and of God. The
person who overcomes the lukewarmness and half-hearted commitment to Christ,
who repents and turns his life over to Christ, shall sit upon the throne of
Christ and of God. What does this mean?
·
That we shall rule and reign with
Christ forever and ever.
·
That we shall be assigned certain
duties in the new heavens and earth, given the responsibility to oversee and
manage the universe for Christ (Mt. 25:21, 23; Lu. 19:17, 19).
·
That we shall rule and oversee the work
and duties of angels (1 Co. 6:2–3).
It means that we shall rule as kings with Christ throughout the whole universe and for all of eternity (Re. 14:13; Re. 21:24–27.)[5]
“I will
invite everyone who is victorious to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his
throne.” Re.3:21 NLT
This
promise that everyone
who is victorious will sit with Christ on his throne refers to the
heavenly kingdom (Re. 1:6, 9; Re. 2:26–27).
Believers’ reign with Christ is mentioned in several places in Scripture (see,
for example, Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28–30; Romans
8:17; 2 Timothy 2:12). This promise
is certain because Christ won that right for believers through his own victory
on the cross. Victorious over sin and death when he rose again, he sat with
his Father on
his throne. The Gospel of Mark records, “When the Lord Jesus had
finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the
place of honor at God’s right hand” (Mark 16:19
nlt).
“Anyone who
is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit
is saying to the churches.” Re.3:22 NLT
At the end of each message to these churches, believers were urged to listen and take to heart what had been written to them. Although a different message was addressed to each church, all the messages contain warnings and principles for everyone. Which letter speaks most directly to your church? Which has the greatest bearing on your own spiritual condition at this time? How will you respond?[6]
The Words of Christ to the Church at
Laodicea.
“And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans,” etc. “Laodicea is in the south-west of Phrygia, on the river Lycus, not far from Colossæ, lying between it and Philadelphia, destroyed by an earthquake a.d. 62, rebuilt by its wealthy citizens without the help of the state. This wealth (arising from the excellence of its wools) led to a self-satisfied, lukewarm state in spiritual things. In Col. 4:16 it is mentioned. The Church in later times was 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 near its site” (Fausset). We have here certain solemn and significant facts concerning a corrupt Church, such a Church as that which was existing at this time in Laodicea.
I. Its real character was thoroughly known. There
was an eye that peered into its deepest depths, knew well its moral elements
and temperature. He who thus looked into and through it is thus described.
1. He
is “the Amen.” This
is the Hebrew word for “verily,” or “truly”—a word of energetic assertion and
familiar use. In Christ, we are told, “is Yea and Amen.” He is positive
and declarative Truth. What he predicates is true to reality; what he predicts
will be realized, whether lamentable or otherwise.
2. He
is “the faithful and true Witness.” What
is a true witness?
(1) One who has an
absolute knowledge of the subject of which he affirms. And
(2) one who is absolutely
above all temptation to misrepresent. Christ has no motive to deceive, no evil
to dread, no good to gain.
3. He
is “the Beginning of the creation of God.” He
seems not only to have been the First of the creation, but in some sense the
Originator. He is the Beginning, the Continuance, and Purpose of all. This is a mystery unfathomed, perhaps fathomless.
This is the transcendent Being who knew thoroughly this Laodicean Church, and
who knows all Churches. “I know thy works”—know
them in their hidden germs and ever-multiplying branches.
“Oh
may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where’er
I roam, where’er I rest;
Nor
let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is near.”
II. Its spiritual indifferentism is divinely
abhorrent. “I would thou wert cold or hot.”
Cold water is refreshing, hot water is sometimes pleasant, the tepid is always
more or less sickening. Well does an old writer say, “Lukewarmness or
indifference in religion is the worst temper in the world. If religion is a
real thing, it is the most excellent thing, and therefore we should be in good
earnest in it; if it is not a real thing, it is the vilest imposture, and we should
be earnest against it. If religion is worth anything, it is worth everything;
an indifference here is inexcusable.”
1. Spiritual indifferentism is a most
incongruous condition. All nature seems in earnest: seas and
stars are on the gallop; plants and animals rush onward on the lines of decay
or growth; the minds of all moral beings are flowing with more or less speed in
one direction or another.
2. Spiritual indifferentism is a most incorrigible condition. Theoretical infidelity we may break down by argument, but moral indifferentism cannot be touched by logic. The spritually indifferent man shouts out his Creed every Sunday, damns the atheist, and yet himself is “without God in the world.” Truly such a state of mind must be abhorrent to him who demands that all should love him with their whole heart, soul, and strength. What an awful supposition that man can sicken and disgust the Infinite! “I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Moral depravity nauseates the holy universe.
III. Its self-deception is terribly alarming. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods [have gotten riches], and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched [the wretched one], and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked.”
1. Look at the condition in which they fancied
themselves. “I am rich, and increased with goods.” They fancied themselves
rich and independent. “Have need of nothing.”
They wished to be all this, and the wish is evermore the father to the
thought. Ah me! it is by no means uncommon for men to fancy themselves
to be what they are not. If you go into lunatic spheres there you may see
dwarfs fancying themselves giants and illustrious heroes, paupers thinking they
are millionnaires, and poor beggars kings of the first order. But elsewhere I
find in all the department of human life that are considered to be sane, scenes
scarcely less absurd.
2. Look at the condition in which they really are. “And knowest not that thou art wretched [the wretched one], and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” “Wretched,” though they may dance and sing; pitiable, though lauded by princes, premiers, and peers; “blind,” though the physical optics are sound; and “naked,” though robed in splendour. Wretched, pitiable, blind, naked in soul: what a condition is this! what terrible self-deception! “The first and worst of all frauds,” says Festus “is to cheat one’s self. All sin is easy after that.”
IV. Its miserable condition need not be hopeless.
1. Recovery is freely offered. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried [refined] in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment
[garments],” etc. Is there irony here? How can the poor buy gold, become rich,
procure white garments, and salve for the diseased eyes? No; there is no
irony here. The blessings here offered require no outlay of material wealth.
All is to be won by true faith, and all can believe. “Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come,” etc.
2. Recovery is divinely urged. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.”
Here observe:
(1) Christ’s attitude towards the soul. He does
not come occasionally and depart. He “stands,”
implying his deep concern, his infinite condescension, and his wonderful
patience. He waits to be gracious.
(2) Christ’s action upon the soul. He stands not
as a statue, but knocks—knocks at the door of intellect with truths, at the door of conscience with principles, at the door of love with transcendent charms.
(3) Christ’s purpose with the soul. His mission
is not to destroy, but to save it. “I will come in
to him.” The language implies:
(a) Inhabitation. “I will
come in to him.”
(b) Identification. “Sup with
him, and he with me.” Thus sinners
are urged to deliver themselves from their miserable condition.
3. Recovery is divinely rewarded. “To him [he] that overcometh
will I grant [I will give to him] to sit
with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set [sat] down with my Father in his throne.” What are the
thrones here?
Are they some material seats in some radiant and remote part of the
universe—the one provided for the Father and the other for the Son? The question is
childish, sensuous, and unspiritual. What is the true throne of a human soul?
(1) It is the throne
of an approving conscience. That
mind alone can rest whose conscience applauds him, and that soul alone can feel
exalted and dignified whose conscience chimes to him, “Well
done.”
(2) It is the throne of moral rule. He who subordinates the material to the spiritual, the animal to the intellectual, the intellectual to the moral, and the moral to God, occupies the true throne. He is king, and none other.—D. T.[7]
[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation.
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership
Ministries Worldwide.
[3] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
[4] Butler, John G. 2010. Analytical Bible
Expositor: Revelation. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.
[5] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation.
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership
Ministries Worldwide.
NLT
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All
rights reserved.
nlt Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
NLT
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All
rights reserved.
[6] Barton, Bruce B. 2000. Revelation.
Edited by Grant R. Osborne. Life Application Bible Commentary. Wheaton, IL:
Tyndale House Publishers.
[7] Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. 1909. Revelation.
The Pulpit Commentary. London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
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