“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write…” (Rev 3:14, NKJV)
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” (Rev 3:20, NKJV)
This letter is written to one of seven churches in the area now called Turkey that existed at the end of the first century after Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry and return to heaven at His Father’s side. (Heb 10:12-13) Most of these churches had problems but all of them are claimed by the Lord to be His churches and they all had stars (or pastors) leading them. (Rev 1:16, 20) The word angel actually means ‘messenger’. If the seven angels had been holy angels from heaven there would have been no need to address a letter to them. It is to pastors (under-shepherds) that the Lord Jesus Christ committed responsibility for the care of His churches. (Eph 4:11) These seven churches are representative of different church characteristics since Jesus Christ established them through His apostles and followers. There have always been churches that were faithful, or struggled with false doctrine, or faced persecution, or lost their way. And all churches have gone through different stages in their time. As we look around today, we can see similar patterns with churches. The Glorified Lord speaks to them to commend what is good, to correct what is wrong, and to warn against the dangers of ignoring His message.
The Lord is always quick to recognize and commend what His brethern in this evil world are doing right and He mentions a couple of things the church of Laodicea did not forget to do.
They continued gathering together. “…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…” (Heb 10:25) The Lord does not suggest they stopped loving Him completely. They were still His bride and brethren. (Eph 5:23-27; Heb 2:11)
They were thankful. “…you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing…” (Rev 3:17) They had no problem recognizing the blessings the Lord had given them. When times are good PRAISE comes easy. It was so in the Old Testament times (Ps 92:1) and it has been true in New Testament times. And it is so because it costs us little or nothing to give thanks for the blessings of God’s love and recognize our Lord’s great and gracious generosity.
But there were some things the Lord had to point out to them.
They were in great need. First, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.” (Rev 3:15) Even though they were thankful for the blessings received, they had allowed them to quench the holy fire of their faith. It had made them self-centered and unconcerned about others. And so, the Lord warns them to “REPENT” (Rev 3:19). How little we comprehend the grief our feeble service can cause the Lord.
Second, you “do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked…” (Rev 3:17) The Lord saw them differently than they saw themselves. “But there is no creature hidden from the Lord’s sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Heb 4:12) They were thankful for physical blessings. But He counsels them to obtain from Him spiritual wealth, and white garments to cover the shame of their nakedness of their worldliness, and salve for their eyes so they might see the reality of their lives and the world. (Rev 3:18)
And thirdly came the biggest revelation of all – Jesus Christ was outside His own church and pleading to come in to those He had died to redeem!! “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” (Rev 3:20)
What a surprise it must have been!! There is no reason to believe they had willfully blocked His entrance. They had continued to meet and praise Him and the Father. They had recognized His blessings to them.
Contrary to popular belief, the New Testament does not teach that God now dwells in a certain place where a person can go to meet Him, like the Temple in the Old Testament. Now, the Bible teaches, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16). Each born-again believer can now worship God personally at any time and any place if they sincerely seek Him. However, no believer can properly grow in grace without the Holy Spirit applying the written Word to our souls in fellowship and worship with other believers. So we designate a place where believers can meet together away from the unholy world and focus our praise and worship on Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us (Eph 5:2). It is dangerous, and difficult to grow spiritually when believers do not gather together to meet the Lord and worship and fellowship with Him.
They would have been counting on His promise to His disciples that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matt 18:20) And doubtless they could testify of prior times when the presence of the Lord was there and their spirits bore witness of it and their souls were encouraged by it. This is one of the great blessings of the New Testament age. The glorified Jesus Christ will meet us in a special way when we gather together and enourage each other in holiness and separation from the world outside.
So, what changed with the Laodiceans?
How often do believers sing the song “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place”? And how many can honestly say they had met the Lord there when they are on the way out the door?
The great failure is that believers are not reminded of the real meaning of Jesus Christ’s promise to meet them when they gather in Matt 18:20. The key to the promise is in the words “in My Name”.
In the Bible a “name” was important because it represented the character of the person who bore it. The greater the character of the person, the greater the name. (Ps 9:10) And so, people were commanded not to take the name of the Lord their God in vain. (Ex 20:7) To take someone’s name in vain is to misrepresent the character of that person. To take God’s name in vain is to use it in a way that shows God’s character to be different from what it has been revealed to be, and is, therefore, blasphemy. It brings God’s character down from the lofty heights of heaven to the lowest level of man.
So how does the promise to believers when they meet relate to the name of Jesus Christ?
To assemble in the name of Jesus Christ is to come together recognizing His character of being the holy, loving, redeemer Son of God who is unlike this world. When this is done rightly, the FOCUS will be on God and not on ourselves.
Here is the answer to the mystery of the Laodicean church. At some point they had stopped focusing on Jesus Christ. Or to put it another way, they had stopped meeting to WORSHIP and were only meeting to thank/praise God for His many blessings and His love, and, apparently, even in the sharing of God’s Word.
This means they got to the place where no more than one person, if any, was coming to worship and not just praise.
Praise is an important emphasis in the Bible. But it is not the most important because it is just the first step to entering the presence of the Most Holy God. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” (Ps 100:4)
To stop with praise is to stay outside in the courts and not enter into God’s presence.
It is true that praise and worship are often combined in the Bible and even in scenes of heavenly worship among the redeemed and angels. However, those scenes always end with worship and bowing in submission. (Is 6: 1-8; Rev 4:9-11) Here in this world, praise in music and the Word can become selfish and carnal, and take our FOCUS off of the Lord.
The Laodicean church lost the blessing of Jesus Christ’s presence by losing the struggle against the flesh and the world. And they became so spiritually numb they did not even notice when He stopped entering into their midst. Their works also suffered. They were no longer light and salt to the world. They were self-satisfied and happy without Him. And the supposed water of truth (Eph 5:26) they had to share was only worthy to be spewed from His mouth. (Rev 3:16)
Is this not a picture of what is happening in many churches today? We are blessed but the world around us is growing darker and angrier, with great suffering, while the fiery light of the Lord in His churches grows weaker.
Our Lord’s response to the Laodicean church’s great need was “As many I love I rebuke and chasten (discipline). Therefore, be zealous (earnest) and repent.” (Rev 3:19) We are not told exactly what chastening might come on the church but the Lord knows exactly what is needed for each church situation and He loves His church(es) too much to allow us to continue in sin and failure indefinitely.
Finally,the Lord sent each of them a personal invitation – “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. (Rev 3:20) This verse is often used as a picture to reach the lost. But it is actually written to His church. It pictures a door that can only be opened from the inside. Only by true worship in His name and holy character can Jesus Christ enter into the gathering of believers and be in their midst.
The promise is that Jesus Christ will always enter when the door is opened, even if there are only two people gathered in His name, and they shall have fellowship together!!
Jesus Christ was watching the Laodiceans even though they did not realize He was no longer in their midst.
Jesus Christ wanted the best for them even though they did not sense the need to fellowship with Him.
Jesus Christ was seeking them even though they weren’t seeking Him.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF GOD’S PEOPLE GATHERED JUST TO MEET GOD??
It’s called REVIVAL!!
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Biblical Truth for the Last Days 