Doubtless we live in the days of Laodicea. We have seen the outward history of the church presented in the seven churches. Failure began with Ephesus, she had left her first love, and things will progress until the professing church, a false and unfaithful witness, will be spewed out of His mouth. Note that this is the professing church that we are talking of, those that profess to be of the church of God and take that position.
Message to Laodicea
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth. 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. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 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. 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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (
Revelation 3:14-2214And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17Because 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: 18I 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. 19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20Behold, 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. 21To 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. 22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:14‑22)).
The Mystery of Iniquity
The Lord is not yet ready to spew professing Christendom, which is to become so nauseous to Him, out of His mouth. That time is not yet fully come, but the mystery of iniquity is already working. The Holy Spirit is a present hindrance and obstructs its full-blown manifestation. When the Lord’s own are taken, that is to say when the bride is called away, then the lawless one, the antichrist, will be revealed.
This is not the world that we are speaking of; sadly we are talking here of the state of Christendom. The warning began with Ephesus: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:2929For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. (Acts 20:29)). Now we see it fully accomplished.
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:44For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 4)).
These are men that have crept in unawares. They were spots in their feasts of charity (Jude 1212These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; (Jude 12)). They were right there in the church, “feeding themselves without fear” (Jude 1212These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; (Jude 12)). Like Balaam of old, they are governed by greed. “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Peter 2:33And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:3)). “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Peter 2:1919While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. (2 Peter 2:19)). They have cast this stumbling block, “to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication” (Revelation 2:1414But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. (Revelation 2:14)). This is the state of Christendom in the day in which we are living.
Indifference to Christ
However, even in such a day, there is One in whom are confirmed all the promises of God — “For all the promises of God in Him [are] yea, and in Him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:2020For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. (2 Corinthians 1:20)). The Lord Jesus Christ is the faithful and true witness. He is the true foundation, the beginning of the creation of God. It is in this character that Christ is presented to the Laodiceans.
Christ is presented in this way because the church has turned away from Him. In her own estimation she is rich and in need of nothing. It is not now the ignorance of the Dark Ages; she is totally and utterly indifferent to Christ — neither hot nor cold, she is lukewarm. Wise in her own conceits, she no longer rests on that which “is able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:1515And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:15)) — the Holy Scriptures. Rich in herself, she is no longer a witness to Christ, nor has any apparent need for Him. Christ is viewed as being outside of Laodicea.
Gold speaks to us of divine righteousness. The white raiment is the righteousness of the saints (Revelation 19:88And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (Revelation 19:8)), not human righteousness, but the practical righteousness that results from a heart set at liberty by divine righteousness. There were no works that the Lord could speak of, rather they should buy of Him white raiment, “that thou mayest be clothed.” These are not works for salvation but the works that result from salvation. The one can never be seen as righteous, whereas the other must of necessity, be righteous.
They were blind, having no spiritual discernment. In their blind condition there was no hope that they should ever recognize their true state. Worse still, they did not even have any intelligence as to their condition; rather they felt themselves to be rich. A lost blind man who wrongly thinks that he is going the right way is in a hopeless situation unless someone outside of himself can awaken him to his dangerous course.
Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock
The Lord stands outside the assembly at Laodicea, and seeks admittance. However, we note that the call is to any man; it is to the individual.
“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” (Revelation 3:2020Behold, 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. (Revelation 3:20)).
We live in the days of Laodicea, and there is the very real danger that the spirit of the age will affect our thinking. How important that we keep our eyes on the One who is holy and true. It will not be a source of pride and it will not result in a pharisaic attitude. The faces of Moses and Stephen reflected the One with whom they companied, though it was quite unknown to themselves. “Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him” (Exodus 34:2929And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. (Exodus 34:29)).