22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the . The phrase is the strongest possible way of putting the matter. This at the same time goes on down to the end, and brings in the Lord's coming; for, it will be observed, the coming of the Lord is not introduced in any of the first three, but from Thyatira it is, because the condition intended goes on to the coming of the Lord. Compromise is the order of the day. (b) In the way of Christ the reward of work well done is more work to do. Thyatira does, and so Sardis, and also Philadelphia. Compare the notes on Job 10:21-22. It is the same idea again; it is as if the mark of God was upon Israel so that all men may know that they are his people. This seems to be unsaying all again. It was all over with them, unless they judged themselves, and in the power of the Holy Ghost Christ regained His place. We shall find it in relation to Christ dealing with church matters in Revelation 3:1-22; we shall find it in His relation to the earth inRevelation 5:1-14; Revelation 5:1-14: but it is always the fulness of the Spirit in governmental power, and not the same Spirit viewed in His unity forming the church into one body. Yet upon a church that has sunk so low as Laodicea, the risen Lord still showers His love. (Barnhouse), iii. Even then Satan was not idle in forming his synagogue "of those that said they were Jews, and are not." This seems conveyed in the peculiarity of the words: so careful is the Holy Ghost to watch over the glory of Christ even in that which told out the depths of His humiliation. Within the home, within the circle in which we move, within the parish in which we reside, there are those to be won for Christ. Revelation 3:20 | Tabletalk Doubtless there are many in hell that once thought themselves to be in the way to heaven. In it there is no redeeming feature. 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. If people despise the truth possessed by those who are waiting for the Lord, they are in danger of falling into the awful condition that is here set forth. Hence it is not said here that He walks in the midst of the seven lampstands: that was ecclesiastical strictly. 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. Further explanation of these views follows. When he came to Troas, a door was opened to him by the Lord ( 2 Corinthians 2:12). Many a church has fallen into a condition of indifference, and when it does so it generally becomes the haunt of worldly professors, a refuge for people who want an easy religion, which enables them to enjoy the pleasures of sin and the honours of piety at the same time; where things are free and easy, where you are not expected to do much, or give much, or pray much, or to be very religious; where the minister is not so precise as the old school divines, a more liberal people, of broad views, free-thinking and free-acting, where there is full tolerance for sin, and no demand for vital godliness. Here is the picture of Jesus Christ as the one who has the final authority which no one can question. They are many and most would paint pictures which would be vivid and real to the people of Philadelphia. They dragged down the Christian from his own heavenly associations to that of a spurious Jew. It was not yet a question of coming out from the public body. "He that loveth his son will continue to lay stripes upon him, that he may have joy of him in the end. We have one cause of this indifference and inconsistency in religion assigned, and that is self-conceitedness or self-delusion. This goes against the spirit of our age, which was long ago expressed by a famous Englishman when he read a sermon by G.W.E. Mark 10:45; Luke 19:10; John 10:10; 1 Timothy 4:10). Then history repeated itself. If one accepts these seven letters as descriptive of the flow of church . When we are called upon to show endurance, the endurance of Jesus Christ supplies us with three things. The preacher has never managed to keep to free grace for this reason, that the text was not meant to be so used, and if men will ride a text the wrong way, it will not go. New American Standard Version In particular the temple was the centre of a medical school which was transferred to Laodicea itself. The warnings and the overcomers promises both have the same end in view. And here He is loving the church in this sad condition. Or chapters 2 and 3 are prophetic of the church age. 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: 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. I do not mean of course for Christians, who needed no such bulwark as this, but for Christendom. (b) We see the offer of Christ. It is for discipline that you have to endure. I do not say when, where, or how; but as surely as He lives, will the Lord vindicate the truth He has given, and the testimony He has raised up for His name. The deipnon was the main meal of the day and was a leisurely affair, not a hurried snack. (L. Morris) This speaks of fellowship. The salutation is from God in His own being, the ever-existing One, He who is, and who was, and who is to come. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. . 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. Revelation 20:1 Commentaries: Then I saw an angel coming down from The only exception is in Thyatira, where He is described as the Son of God; and, as already remarked, Thyatira is exactly transitional. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and will have my meal with him, and he with me. In truth, the moral reason lay in this: that Christ, if rejected as the object of faith, and the only channel of grace, becomes an executor of judgment. It will be an evil day when he casts a church out of that interceding mouth, and leaves her unrepresented before the throne because he is none of his. An then we must not talk about setting the church right, we must pray for grace each one for himself, for the text does not say, "If the church will open the door," but "If any man hear my voice and open the door." He did not expect great things from them. Their righteousnesses were but filthy rags; they were rags, and would not cover them, filthy rags, and would defile them. They are thus carefully ushered in, but in that prophetic method which was morally fitting, in a series of visions which John saw. Now we have the church of Philadelphia, the faithful remnant. The man is the agent that goes forward; the woman is the state of things that is produced. This we find formally and doctrinally in his gospel. Sardis was still a wealthy city. . If not, you have not watched as you should do for the good of your brethren and sisters, and, perhaps, have allowed evils to grow which ought to have been rooted up: you have been silent when you should have kindly and earnestly spoken to the offenders, or made your own example a warning to them. But if he open it before the holy blessed God, God spares him, and mercy prevails over wrath; and when he laments, although all the doors were shut, yet they shall be opened to him, and his prayer shall be heard.". They were true and ardent, but with no considerable light of knowledge if measured by a fuller and richer testimony which the Lord was afterwards to raise up, as foreshown in the next chapter. The Amen, one that is steady and unchangeable in all his purposes and promises, which are all yea, and all amen. To take the position of a Jew thus is to be one of those that say they are such and are not, but are alas! Thyatira, I have no doubt, contains within it the mystic representative of Romanism. To him that overcomes 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. It is another and a remarkable difference. And the successive thought in the overcomers promises in the Book of Revelation is that of Christians ultimately ascending the throne-co-heirs, companions, exercising power with Christ. Even on the Emmaus road, "He appeared to be going further" ( Luke 24:28). "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman (perhaps 'thy wife') Jezebel." under the eye of the directing priest, their confessor. We will not be altogether absent from the house of God, but we will go as seldom as we can. I do not mean conflicts about the church, but about his soul, It is needless here to cite passages from his extant writings, which prove how sorely he was tried by inward conflicts of unbelief, which amply prove how far he was from the calm enjoyment of the peace of the gospel; but it is an error to impute them in themselves to any other cause than a lack of clear knowledge of grace. On one of these spurs, fifteen hundred feet up, stood the original Sardis. The heavy charge drawn up against this church, ministers and people, by one who knew them better than they knew themselves: Thou art neither cold nor hot, but worse than either; I would thou wert cold or hot,Revelation 3:15; Revelation 3:15. He has been standing for a period of time and is still awaiting their response to his continual knocking. True saints abide in Jesus and he in them. Thus then it is with the seven golden lampstands. The framers of this were those that held the doctrine of Balaam. Even if the church as a whole ignores his request, those individuals who open their lives to him will know the joy of constant fellowship with him. They were poor, really poor, when they said and thought they were rich; they had no provision for their souls to live upon; their souls were starving in the midst of their abundance; they were vastly in debt to the justice of God, and had nothing to pay off the least part of the debt. Who then can escape? Of all the seven Churches that of Laodicea is most unsparingly condemned. Seven hundred years before this letter was written Sardis had been one of the greatest cities in the world.