I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified in the fire, in order that you might be rich, and white garments, in order that you might be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness might not be revealed, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes, in order that you might see. Rev. 3:18.
Although the message to the seven churches have universal value, Jesus was certainly addressing a first-century church and its condition through His servant John. If the present condition of the ancient city of Laodicea is any indication, the church at Laodicea never accepted the counsel it received.
After passing by an ancient water channel, the bus lets you off at the base of Laodicea's tell (or mound), the top of which proves to be a farmer's field. As you walk through the field you look down and see chips of marble and clay piping scattered throughout the surface soil. With a sense of awe you realize that a great city lies just below the surface (archaeologists have never seriously excavated Laodicea). Further on one can see remnants of a public bath and other structures sticking up out of the ground. Laodicea has been deserted for more than 1,500 years! In a real sense the church at Laodicea did get spewed out of Jesus' mouth (Rev. 3:16), because it no longer exists.
But in another and deeper sense Laodicea still does survive. The author of Revelation seems to associate the church with the last-day people of God, who face the final battle of earth's history, Armageddon. You see, the counsel Jesus offers to Laodicea in our text for today echoes that given to those facing Armageddon (Rev. 16:15). The two passages have four Greek words in common: "garments," "shame," "nakedness," and the verb for seeing. No other text in the Bible has this exact same combination of words.
Notice Revelation 16:15: "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed" (NIV). The words for clothes and naked are fairly obvious, even in translation. The words translated "shamefully exposed" represents the two major Greek words for "see" and "shame." When God makes a call to the final generation of earth's history, He uses the language of Laodicea! While the city of Laodicea is dead, something of it lingers to the end of time.
So in some sense the message to Laodicea represents the followers of Jesus who experience the last crisis of earth's history. God summons the final remnant to accept the counsel to Laodicea and to take hold of the true wealth that God offers. The message to Laodicea is, in a special sense, to us as well.
Lord, I need Your garment of righteousness today. Give me clear vision to discern good from evil in everything that happens to me.
Although the message to the seven churches have universal value, Jesus was certainly addressing a first-century church and its condition through His servant John. If the present condition of the ancient city of Laodicea is any indication, the church at Laodicea never accepted the counsel it received.
After passing by an ancient water channel, the bus lets you off at the base of Laodicea's tell (or mound), the top of which proves to be a farmer's field. As you walk through the field you look down and see chips of marble and clay piping scattered throughout the surface soil. With a sense of awe you realize that a great city lies just below the surface (archaeologists have never seriously excavated Laodicea). Further on one can see remnants of a public bath and other structures sticking up out of the ground. Laodicea has been deserted for more than 1,500 years! In a real sense the church at Laodicea did get spewed out of Jesus' mouth (Rev. 3:16), because it no longer exists.
But in another and deeper sense Laodicea still does survive. The author of Revelation seems to associate the church with the last-day people of God, who face the final battle of earth's history, Armageddon. You see, the counsel Jesus offers to Laodicea in our text for today echoes that given to those facing Armageddon (Rev. 16:15). The two passages have four Greek words in common: "garments," "shame," "nakedness," and the verb for seeing. No other text in the Bible has this exact same combination of words.
Notice Revelation 16:15: "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed" (NIV). The words for clothes and naked are fairly obvious, even in translation. The words translated "shamefully exposed" represents the two major Greek words for "see" and "shame." When God makes a call to the final generation of earth's history, He uses the language of Laodicea! While the city of Laodicea is dead, something of it lingers to the end of time.
So in some sense the message to Laodicea represents the followers of Jesus who experience the last crisis of earth's history. God summons the final remnant to accept the counsel to Laodicea and to take hold of the true wealth that God offers. The message to Laodicea is, in a special sense, to us as well.
Lord, I need Your garment of righteousness today. Give me clear vision to discern good from evil in everything that happens to me.
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