END TIMES REVEALED

Revelation 3-part 2


Rev. 3:11 Our Lord expresses for the third time, and we find it clearly stated that our Lord is coming again [ref. Rev. 1:7; 2:25]. His Scriptures of His coming is associated with the rewards He will give to His faithful servants. “and behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” [Ref. Rev. 22:12]. Our Lord is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” [ref. Heb. 11:6]. Satan would use those of his synagogue to steal our rewards from us. We have Christ’s appeal, “hold that fast which you have”, and why? “That no man takes your crown.” The crown is not our salvation. Neither man nor demon nor angel, in time present nor in time to come, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord [ref. Rom. 8:38-39]. We are saved by faith and not by works, but we are saved to work, and for our works we shall be rewarded [ref. Eph. 2:8-10]. There are various forms of evil to steal our crowns. A cold heart overcame the saints in Ephesus. In Smyrna the saints were tempted by discouragement through enduring suffering and poverty. In Pergamun there were the opposing doctrines (false teaching of Balaam and the Nicolaitanes. In Thyatira Jezebel held undisputed sway. Sardis had a name to live by and was dead. In Philadelphia there were tares among “us” wheat. These choke the Word so that the believer becomes unfruitful. Our Lord says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life [Ref. Rev. 2:10]. When our Lord comes again to take us to the home He has prepared for us in heaven, we shall cast our crowns before His throne, and say, “thou art worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” [Ref. Rev. 4:10-11].

Rev. 3:12 Our Lord promises to the over comer (believer) that the Lord Himself will make us a pillar in the temple of God. A symbol telling us that Christ has come before us and made a permanent dwelling place for us in Heaven. Our Lord promises us that God the Father and, “the city,” of God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ, will know by the new names upon us, which will enable us a citizen of heaven, to freely do the work of our Lord upon this earth. His new names upon us, is a personal relationship we have with Him now and forever.

Rev. 3:13 Our Lord expresses again to the believer priest, we are to hear what the Holy spirit here has to say to the church. The Lord has left His message with us, allows the Holy Spirit to indwell and accomplish the work through us.

Rev. 3:14 Our Lord and Redeemer addresses the church at Laodicea as “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” Christ the Sovereign God which is behind all human events [Ref. 2Cor. 1:20; Rev. 1:6) is the “Amen” as we have seen previously means “so be it” the mighty hand behind all human events. Christ reaffirms to us what He has said earlier [Ref. Rev. 1:5; 3:7] speaking of Himself “the faithful and true Witness.” Christ among man is the affirmation and confirmation of the mind of God. Our Lord is God’s last Word; there is no improving upon Him. “For in Him dwelled all the fullness of the God head bodily,” [Ref. Col. 2:19]. Christ’s ministry of words and works fulfills every promise of God, “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen’ [Ref. 2Cor. 1:20]. Christ is the ruler of God’s creation and is sovereign over it [Ref. Col.1:15, 18; Rev. 21:6]. This description or address is preparation for the stern word of rebuke which our Lord gives the church in Laodicea.

Rev. 3:15-16 seeing nothing in this church our Lord can approve, the Lord proceeds to admonish the church. The church was pictured as utterly abhorrent to Christ because the church is lukewarm. The people are straddlers, fence-sitters, and middle-of-road people. Any attitude is better than that of being tepid. A church that is neither enthusiastic nor antagonistic is most difficult to deal with. Half heartedness will paralyze any effort. But why should the Lord desire that they be cold rather than lukewarm? This had a background and local meaning for the people in that day. The ice cold water of the mountains traveled to Laodicea by aqueduct and was lukewarm by the time it reached them. Luke warm water is not very good for drinking. A cold church actually means a church that has denied every cardinal doctrine of the faith. The church has given over to formality and is carrying on in active opposition to the Word of God and the gospel of Christ. We see in liberalism that the individuals are in active opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can see the picture of many churches today falling into this category and full of the individual in opposition. These people do not want to come out flatfooted standing fast for the Word of god and for the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Why Hot? Hot speaks of those with real spiritual fervor and passion like the Christians in Ephesus, although they were even getting away from their best love. The Laodicean church new what our Lord meant of Hot for there were hot springs in the valley. These steaming springs were routed to Laodicea and as well would up being lukewarm by the time it got to them. The church and its people do not want to be known as a liberal church. So they play and mingle with both the middle-of –the-road and the passionate spiritually fevered Christian those cold and hot, and makes for a condition in the church that is impossible for our Lord to stomach. Our Lord says very frankly that He will spew them out of His mouth. Thank God that there are many who do not come under this classification. This is a heart searching message for this hour because we are living in the time of the Laodicean church and the Philadelphian church. Both of them are side by side, and there is a great division of Christianity today. This division is not in denominations of churches, but consists of those who believe the word of God and follow it, love it, obey it, and those who reject it. That is the line of division today in our society.

Rev. 3:17 Our Lord summed up this in two phrases “thou sayest….and knowest not.” They said they were rich and had need of nothing, and all the while they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. This was their estimation of themselves compared to Christ’s declaration of their true condition. It is pitiable when a church cannot stand together and say from their hearts, with a loud voice, “worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing” [Ref. Rev. 5:12] Our Lord said “thou art wretched,” this means “distressed,” groaning under the burden of indwelling sin. Our Lord further describes the church as being “miserable.” The Greek word “Eleeinos” meaning “pitiable.” Our Lord tells them that they are “poor” they are rich in material things, but have no spiritual blessings stored up in heaven. No wonder our Lord pitied them.

Rev. 3:18 Our Lord of grace here appeals to them to buy of Him. Our Lord is using the language appropriate to those merchandising- minded men. Our Lord would have them turn from the fool’s gold of the world to the One who said, “Ho! everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” [Ref. Isa. 551]. Total Grace, is there anything in the entire world more wonderful than this? Christ is appealing to the church as He sees her, not as she thinks she is. The gold of our Lord is divine righteousness that will stand every test and never decrease in value even in the worst depression. In the New Testament the righteous deeds of the believer priest, that shall have God’s approval in the Day of Judgment, are compared to gold [Ref. 1Cor. 3:12-13]. For we can see that our Lord here is offering the people His righteousness, that will enrich their lives on earth and in eternity.






Our Lord tells the people that they can never cover their moral nakedness. All mans righteous deeds are as filthy rags in God’s sight [Ref. Isa. 64:6]. Christ says, “Buy of Me…white raiment,” this is the divine righteousness which God imputes to every believing sinner who comes to Christ [Ref. 1Cor. 1:30]. Our gracious Lord can only clothe the sinner’s nakedness with clean white linen of His righteousness [Ref. Rev. 19; 8], without which no man can see the Lord. For their blindness Christ says: Anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou may see. Christ only could open their eyes to perceive a spiritual world they had never known.

Our Lord opened many blind eyes during His earthly ministry, and He still makes men to see. Our Lord say’s the eye ointment of liberalism and neo-orthodoxy leaves men blind. Only the Great Physician can show men the true light.