34: World News & Prophecy - Revelation 3:14-22

Well, welcome back to our next class in a Revelation series. We're going to, in this session, cover the message to the Church at Laodicea, which is in Revelation 3, beginning at verse 14, to the end of the chapter. 

This will be the seventh and the last of the messages to the Church. And always, as all of them are, an important message, but because of certain approaches and applications of the messaging, always a very interesting one for us in the Church today. 

And as people look at this message, as it is a unique one to the churches, it has a very strong message of rebuke from Christ because of their condition. And looking at it is quite important. A little historical background as we go into this message. This was a very large and a very prosperous city in the ancient world, down here in what is called the Balaicus Valley. There are about three large finger-like valleys that flow from east to west in Turkey today, Asia Minor. Pergamum was the one up here on the top. And the Church at Laodicea is down here at the bottom. There was the Balaicus River, the Meander River together, and they flowed down toward Ephesus. Laodicea was at a confluence of those rivers and also on a key road through the area. So it had the advantage of, let's say, transportation with the infrastructure as it was at that time for a city to be located there, people moving through Asia Minor from the coast inland to the coast. 

They would come through this region, caravans, merchants, traffic. And so business, banking in particular, was a very strong feature. Laodicea had their own currency in the ancient world. They had a black woolen industry, made a very fine form of black wool. Laodicea also had a medical center. They created an eye salve that was used and known throughout the region and the world at that time. And that in itself creates an illusion later in the message when Christ says to anoint your eyes that you might see, that you're miserable, poor, blind, and naked. They would have understood that in connection with this famous ointment or eye salve that was manufactured and marketed from there. 

And so all of this served to create a very prosperous and very wealthy city at the time with medicine and banking and transportation, wool, and everything.

The earthquakes that ravaged this part of the world impacted Laodicea as well. I mentioned that at the city of Philadelphia when they had an earthquake, they took aid from the Roman government, FEMA aid at the time. When that same earthquake or others impacted Laodicea, which it did, they refused to take FEMA aid from the government. Can you imagine that today? Any community hit by a hurricane or a tornado in America today refusing FEMA assistance?

Now, it's just not done. Laodicea said, “we'll take care of it ourselves. We've got enough money, we’re rich and increased in goods, we’ll rebuild.” And they did. And so it was a feature of the city. And when you have that type of a civic mindset creates a, what, confidence? You know, state of mind? You know? We're Ohio. We can beat Michigan. We'll take whoever, Oklahoma, Texas, wherever you want to create a rivalry. Laodicea had a certain civic pride about them that they could take care of themselves, and they did. But that permeates a city and the people in the city and the Church, as we will see when we look at the message that is here.

I've made, how many trips? I've been to Laodicea now three times. I'll be there, make my fourth trip to Laodicea in April. And there's a lot of archaeology work going on in Laodicea right now. The Turkish government, for political reasons, has poured a lot of money into the local university with an archaeology department, and they've been digging and renovating. And you're beginning to see just how big and how expensive a city it was in the day when you go there right now. This is just one road there. I'll show you a picture. They not only had one amphitheater, which any respectable Roman city of the time, always, if you thought you were anything, you've got to have an amphitheater. Laodicea not only had one amphitheater, they had two amphitheaters. Call it a cineplex today, you know, multiple theaters to be entertained in. That was a lot of money. 

They also had a huge stadium where they would have gladiator games and chariot races. And I haven't seen that one. I hope we can kind of get a peek of that one on this trip, but they had a huge stadium there as well, indicating the wealth of the city and how they looked at themselves. And that really does come into and lock into the message of the Church here.

So let's begin to look at it in verse 14. “To the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write, these things says, the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” So again, Christ, faithful, true, the beginning or the beginner of the creation of God is another way that that could be used. And Christ was the Creator. He was not created.

He was self-existent, eternal. Verse 15, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot.” And so right off the bat, He makes this statement regarding their nature. He says in verse 16, “because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I'll vomit you out of my mouth.” So what He says is, you're not cold or hot. I wish that you were cold or hot, meaning that's one of the two, you're lukewarm.

The problem at Laodicea was they were lukewarm. And He says, because you are lukewarm and not, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. That's a pretty graphic picture, isn't it? Vomited out of your mouth. How's this under... This is kind of what, when you study the commentators on Laodicea, this is where there's a wide variety of understanding and what is being said. It's a bit ambiguous here. And through the years, depending upon the commentator and what they knew and how they looked at it, they came up with certain interpretations.

The cold, hot and lukewarm are adjectives. One commentator says that they are adjectives looking for a noun. And that creates a bit of the uncertainty in terms of what is being said here.

They are ambiguous. And yet, they are explicit. We all know what hot is, we all know what cold is, and we've all, I think we know what's in the middle in terms of lukewarm. But keep in mind, Christ says, Christ's words here say, “I could wish you were cold or hot.” Both are favorable to Christ. “But because you're not cold or hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

Again, some of the commentators will, some of the more recent years that have focused on the fact that, coupled with the later allusion to a banquet with Christ, which we'll get to, that it's talking, there's talking about if you go to a banquet, there's hot dishes, there's cold dishes, there's hot drinks, there's cold drinks. Both have their benefit. Cold drink is refreshing in the summertime. You can have cold tea or hot tea. You can have hot coffee or cold brew today. I've never gone to Starbucks and ordered a lukewarm brew.

Have you? No. We don't order lukewarm, but both have benefits, which you could look at. And some of the focus has been on that and variations of it, even to the medical aspects of it.

I think we're served best by looking at it as focusing on the lukewarm as a spiritual condition that Christ says, this is where you are, and because you are, you're not effective. I'm going to spit you out of My mouth. You make Me vomit. You ever use that term with somebody? “Yeah, you just make me, I'm so sick of you or whatever. You just always want to vomit.” Well, that's essentially what Christ is saying. More than 100 years ago, there was a British Bible scholar named William Ramsey who went to the region and studied all these seven church locations, wrote a book on it. I have a copy, I have a first edition copy, of his book on my shelf.

William Ramsey looked at the hot and cold and tried to figure it out from a geographical point of view, which is an interesting one. And his conclusions have later been revised because of archaeological work in the region to show that no, it's not exactly as he said. He kind of put forth an idea that hot and cold reflected sources of water to the region, to the city coming from two locations. Now, let me show you a picture of those locations. This is a picture taken within Laodicea. And if you look to the right and upper part of the picture, you'll see some white back there. Those are travertine deposits at the city of Hierapolis, about six to eight miles north of Laodicea. You can stand in the middle of Laodicea on a clear day. You can see these white deposits. They look like white cliffs, but when you get up close to them, this is what they look like. It's a thermal spring. And today, the city is called Pamukkale. We always stop there. We'll spend a night in Pamukkale, and they have thermal springs in the hotel. And you can walk out on these places here. Those are hot water, and they leave behind this white substance. And it's been that way from the ancient time to today. This is a world, what's the term, UNESCO World Heritage Site today, Hierapolis. Now, there was a church there.

The book of Colossians tells us there was a congregation of the Church of God in the city. So you had churches in Hierapolis and Laodicea that were almost, you know, you can see each other from there. And there was a third church in Colossae. This picture is taken at Colossae.

There's nothing there but a mound. We always go there, and we climb up on the mound.

They haven't excavated the city of Colossae. But there was a mound there, and this is a tour bus, and at least a picture of the sign. But if you look at the background in this picture, you'll see white mountains, snow-capped mountains. That's Colossae to the south of Laodicea.

And the map here shows that right here. Cold water.

Hot water to the north. Cold water to the south. And there are cold springs also that are in the region of Colossae. William Ramsey went there, and he kind of thought the idea was that hot or cold lukewarm, that water came from both Hierapolis and Colossae to Laodicea in the middle. And by the time the hot got there, it was lukewarm. By the time the cold got there, it was lukewarm. And that was the water supply. Well, it's an interesting theory, and with what he had available to him at the time, logical, but subsequent excavations, work, and whatever have kind of caused that one to be revised or set aside because there are no aqueducts, and there's no evidence of aqueducts, and no evidence at all that Laodicea got its water from Colossae in the south or Hierapolis to the north.

In fact, they know that there's an aqueducts connecting Laodicea with a nearby city called Dinesley, which is still there today. Much shorter distance. Water wasn't all that great even then, but it wasn't coming from these two areas and then heating up or cooling down to create a lukewarm water. But again, that's what William Ramsey had back in the 19th century as he was studying this, reading the Scripture, and coming to conclusions. And so that's not the idea and not what is being talked about. And it's an example of how ideas get legs about the Bible and about this in particular, but subsequent study, research, etc., may and should cause a revision of exactly what is being said so that you draw accurate conclusions from that.

And so again, I just want to focus that the accurate conclusion for us to draw is that Christ is talking about their lukewarm condition and their ineffectiveness. A lukewarm solution can be an emetic. You know what an emetic is? You drink it and it makes you throw up. It induces vomiting. All right, then that can be done for medicinal treatments if needed. But that's why he said, “I will spew you out of My mouth.” And so He is talking about their spiritual condition that He does not like.

He said, “I would if you were hot or cold.” Those are His words. That's what it does say. And so we have to take it at that and realize cold's not a bad thing as Christ is describing it to them. And nor is hot. But you know, you can go too far on the cold and frozen doesn't do you any good. That busts your water pipes. And if you go too far on the hot, you got scalding water that can burn you.

You don't want to drop a scalding pot of coffee on you. My mother-in-law did that one time. She lifted her boiling coffee pot off the stove, poor lady, and it was one of these old Corning types. And it just, the glue came apart and it fell right across her leg and scalded her leg. And we all know what that can do. So, you know, there's extremes on both sides of it, but hot sterilizes. Hot, you know, is your preferred temperature for many foods and keeps, you know, if it gets too cold, you know, then you've got bacteria that can grow. And cold works in its obvious way as well. 

So, let's focus on the lukewarm part of it as we look at this message and continue on with that. Because ultimately what the message moves to is a relationship with Christ. And so, you know, another Church, let's say, Pergamos reading the message to Laodicea, they wouldn't relate to the hot or cold, but they could relate to the lukewarm and the subsequent message, same with any of the other six congregations that would have read this.

And keep in mind, again, the letters are to the Churches, not just only to one congregation. Everyone could benefit from that, which is what we should do as well. So, when we turn our focus to the relationship with Christ, then we have something, I think, to focus on.

He goes on in verse 17 to say, "'Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind." Again, a reference to the eye salve, the Phrygian eye salve that they manufactured there, blind, that, you know, had certain properties that aided eye disease and could treat, and naked, wool, you know, they had wool there. They might have thought about that as well.

But He said, “you're rich, wealthy, and you don't need anything.” Now, if we go back to, again, Mr. Walford's commentary comment that we're kind of working off of, a prophetic flow of the story of the Church through the ages. And if we come to the seventh here, Laodicea, and if we take that is then saying, describing the condition of the Church at the end of the age, then does that fit an age of wealth? Do any of us say that we're rich and we are wealthy? And because we rely on that, we may put too much trust in that. And because we may be caught up too much in acquisition, preservation of wealth or status that comes along with that, we have need of nothing. Leisure time takes your time. Leisure time takes your time.

You have three homes? Well, you got to go to those three homes to justify having three homes. One in the Rocky Mountains, another at the beach, and another in New York City. Well, if you're going to have three homes, you got to go skiing up in the mountains, don't you? And you want to enjoy the beach at the other house in the summer? Oh, and you want to yacht to cruise the Gulf of America? Or the Mediterranean if you're in Europe? Well, there's $90 million, $100 million plus.

Takes time to enjoy that. Weeks. You don't have time for other things. Leisure takes time. Wealth takes time to even manage as much as create that. This is what he's saying to the Church at Laodicea. What you're looking at in the picture here is one of those restored amphitheaters.

And they've restored it. There's another one right next to it, and this is what it looks like. It's not restored. But you can see the depression there in the bowl. That's a second amphitheater right next to this one. In time, they'll renovate the second one.

But imagine a city having two. I call it, as I said, a cineplex.

You could go to a play in the morning, and the way they're situated, in the morning, the sun doesn't hit you. The other one in the afternoon, the sun doesn't hit you. And so they were very calculating in the way they even placed these two amphitheaters in the city.

And again, you've got to have a certain amount of wealth to afford that and people to support that. So, we go to our cineplexes with eight theaters, 16 theaters, whatever we have. That's what they had there. At least they had two, and it contributed to their cultural variety. But Christ wasn't impressed by that. And this was what was taking their time, their focus, their energy, their attention away from Him. And this is really what He is saying to them when He focuses on that matter of being lukewarm.

He says, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich” (Revelation 3:18).

A refiner's fire. I've never dabbled with metallurgy, but if you do, you have a little oven of, you know, usually a gas fire type of setup. And to purify metal, you've got to heat it to a certain degree to separate the impurities out from what it is that you want from that.

And that's called the refining process. With gold, that's how it is refined down to pure gold. Silver, other precious metals. And it takes fire, intense heat, which is a type of trial, difficulty that we might go through. And as a result of the fiery trials that perfects our faith, we draw closer to God. We recognize that money doesn't do any good for us when it comes to our spiritual relationship with God. Except if we manage that in the right way to develop godly character, which is what God would want us to do with any amount of wealth that we would have.

But He says, “I advise you that you go for the spiritual gold and white garments,” which is a symbol of righteousness in the book of Revelation, “that you may be clothed” (Revelation 3:18). He said you're naked. Have you ever had read to you the story of the emperor without any clothes?

Emperor who had no clothes, you know that story. And a guy, some shyster convinced the king that he had on a rich robes and fine apparel. He goes parading through the streets and he doesn't have him on. And everybody, because they're afraid of the king, they just laud him, “Oh, isn’t he dressed fine?” And some little kid comes up, says, “he's naked,” you know? And takes a little kid to point that out. And we don't want to be emperors with no clothes. That's what Jesus is saying.

You're naked spiritually. Get your clothes on, garments of righteousness, “that you're nakedness not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with salve that you may see” (Revelation 3:18). When we truly see the world for what it is and we see the struggle between good and evil, as Paul talks about in Ephesians 6, that we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places.

When we see it at high levels and even at our level, that we're not struggling with one another, we're struggling at times with spiritual wickedness that might be greed, might be envy, jealousy that comes in and clouds us, our ability to see one another as brothers in Christ.

You know, this application or this verse here has a lot of application for us in the Church today.

You know, historically, people have used the term Laodicea like a rod to beat people over the head with or to strike fear into people. “Don't want to be Laodicean or you're Laodicean and I'm this and I'm better. I got stars upon bars and you don't.” And we get into tribalism and we have our, you know, there's ethnic tribalism in the world, cultural tribalism. 

We have our own tribalism in the Church at times. My group's better than your group. My group's more righteous. We have a better form of whatever. We're doing a better job and self-proclaimed and therefore you're Laodicean. Well, that just divides people and it causes us to get judgmental about each other, for we cannot see each other as brothers in Christ. And when that happens, Christ says, “you've got a problem with Me.” “By this you shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love, one for another” (John 13:35). And so He's saying, get cleaned up, get some clothes on, get your eyes open to the reality of what I'm dealing with here. Verse 19, He says, “for as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” So keep in mind, Christ does love the Church at Laodicea. They are a part of His body, but they've got some deep problems that they've got to change or He says, “I'm going to spit you out. But I love you.” 

Did your parents ever tell you that when they were disciplining you? “I'm doing this out of love.” Sure, you are, Dad. Yeah, Mom. I feel that love on the back side right now.

That's what my boys would say. We don't see that, oh, we just experienced the rebuke. Well, Christ did it out of love. And that's what proper discipline, correction, will have that as a basis, love. So be zealous, repent. And then verse 20 moves into another phase of the message, which is unique among the messages. And to me is what really we should lock in on and focus on.

Christ says, “behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).  So there's this illusion to a banquet.

You see that all through the gospels, wedding supper. Christ goes into a meal, says at one time with publicans and sinners and the Pharisees say, “why do Your disciples do that? You're not supposed to be commingling like that.

And there's always an illusion of some type of a communal meal. Even the Passover, is a Passover bread and wine. And in the Old Testament, it was more of a meal in that setting.

And so we commune with Christ, we fellowship with Christ. And in the Bible, throughout, food is a very often an integral part of that fellowship. What did Abraham do in Genesis 18 when God appeared at his door on His way down to Sodom and Gomorrah? What did he do? Does anybody know? He threw Him a banquet. He threw Him a banquet. He said, “hey, go kill the fatted calf.” Let's kill a cow. And we'll have a braai for those of you in South Africa. We'll have a barbie for those of you from Australia. And I think we've got all the nationalities covered here. Or a cookout. And a cow could feed a lot of people. They had a lot of leftovers on that one.

But they were fellowshipping together, God with Abraham.

So here Jesus says, “I stand at the door and I'm knocking.”

We were reading the story the other day in Acts where Peter comes to the door after being let out of prison, knocking. And Rhoda comes and, “ah, it's Peter!” And she runs back in, just leaves him there outside, still knocking at the door trying to get in.

Well, this is where Jesus says, I am. He says, “I'm outside trying to get in and to dine with you. I want to come in and have a fellowship meal.” Which with God, that's high spiritual level fellowship. And He says, “to him who overcomes, I'll grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21).

But jump ahead a little bit. Let me make a point from this here. He wants to come in and dine. This is His great desire with the Laodicean Church and bring them into a deeper relationship. Because, again, just go back to what verse 21 says, the reward is you overcome, if you're a victor, if you're a nikeo, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne. You will sit with Me on My throne.

Now that is known as a double throne. You will sit with Me on My throne. Christ is sitting on a throne, kind of like this. Well, it's a double throne. There's another seat there.

And there actually were double thrones in the ancient world. They've got them in museums. There's another seat. Co-ruling. We are to be co-heirs with Christ, we are told.

And so Jesus says to the Laodiceans, “You'll sit with Me on My throne as I overcame and sat down with My father on His throne.” This is a very intimate relationship promised to the Laodicean. Be very careful not to use Laodicea or Laodicean as an epithet, as a rod to beat people up with and divide. Because Christ is going to bring the promise to them is to bring them into the closest relationship of all the seven. Now, everyone's co-equal, but as He uses these illusions from their time, hey, one thing to be a pillar, the Philadelphia promise, okay, that's pretty good. And there's a lot to describe about what a pillar does. It helps understand our role, but with the Laodicean, they're going to sit with Christ on His throne. 

That's why He's using this illusion in verse 20 to that of, I want to come in and dine with you. And their problem was they couldn't see Him. Their problem was their wealth, their leisure, their culture, their society. They didn't have time for Christ. He's left outside. They weren't recognizing Him. And He was the head of the Church. 

Now, I want you to hold, you know, this is where in your margins of verse 20, I want you to put in Luke 24. And turn over to Luke 24. We'll take a brief minute to just look at a story in Luke 24 that I think fits with what is being said here in Revelation 3:20 and gives a bit more detail as to what Jesus is saying and lessons for us. Luke 24, at beginning of verse 13, is the story after the resurrection of Christ, after the resurrection, the next day. Verse 13, “two of them,” and these are disciples, “were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which is seven miles from Jerusalem.” So they easily could walk it. “Two disciples are on the road to Emmaus. And they talked together of all the things that had happened, so it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.” Now, this is the resurrected Christ. And it's the morning after, the next day. “But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know Him.”

So these two disciples are walking along and just out of nowhere, they suddenly realize, hey, somebody's behind, has joined them. Well, He just materialized, but they did not know Him. Their eyes were restrained. What did we just read about in the message to Laodicea? About eyes.

What did it say about the eyes? Anoint your eyes that you may see.

These disciples couldn't see Christ. They didn't recognize Him. Oh, somebody. But again, one of those tricks. Verse 17, “and He said to them, ‘what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk in are sad?’ One of them, whose name was Cleopas answered and said, ‘are you the only stranger in Jerusalem and you've not known the things that happened there in these days?’ And He said, ‘what things?’”

So He's kind of playing a little game with them. “And they said, well, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet, mighty indeed in word before God and the people. And they crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, beside all this, today's the third day since these things happened. And certain women of our company that came to the tomb astonished us when they did not find His body.” It was gone.

This is what they're talking about, these two disciples. And so they went to the tomb, verse 24, “found that just as the woman had said, but they didn't see Him. Him they did not see, the body was not there.” And so, verse 25, “He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, soul of heart, to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, ought not to Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory.’” Interesting statement, but I won't go into all that that would mean. But here's what it did in verse 27. They're walking along and Christ begins at Moses and all the prophets and He expounds to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning Himself.

So they're walking along and He's explaining, you know that scripture back in Isaiah, about the suffering servant? Well, that was talking about the Messiah, Jesus. And you know that scripture back in Genesis 3:15, He wouldn’t have said Genesis 3:15 because they hadn't divided it up into chapter verse at that time, about the, He will smash the head of the serpent? Well, that's talking about Jesus. And right on down the line from Moses, He would have explained to the scriptures concerning Himself. Now, they still don't know who they're talking to.

“They came near to the village where they were going,” (verse 28). “And He, Jesus, indicated that He would have gone further.” All right, see you guys later. I'm going to keep going. You got to turn off here and go down to your village. But they constrained Him in verse 29. Hey, stay with us. Abide with us. It's evening. The day's far spent. You're not going to get a hotel room down the road. They're booked up. Nothing on Expedia. You know, hotels.com is closed down.

So come on in. We'll leave the light on for you. And so He went in to stay with them.

Remember, what was Jesus doing back at the message to Laodicea?

He's knocking on the door. Let me come in and dine with you.

So He goes in. They sat down in verse 30 at the table. “He, Christ, took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.” They're having a meal. “Then,” verse 31, “their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight.” When the bread was broken, the blessing was made, and it was, they began to eat it. They began to eat it. He's gone. He disappeared. He vanished from their sight.

“And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, while He opened the Scripture? So they arose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven, saying, ‘The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.’ They told Him about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

 You can go a lot deeper into that about Christ being the bread, but we'll just stay at the level of them eating a meal with Him. As they invited Him in, they broke bread. Then they knew who He was. We have to let Christ into our life. We have to develop a relationship with Christ. This is what Jesus is saying here in this culminating message to the seven churches. We have to let Him in and not keep Him out in the cold, barefoot, hungry. Not that Christ is hungry, but just ignoring Him. As He plaintively — you use a human emotion — but at least, you know, Jesus does desire fellowship with His people, with His children. And as we develop that and think of that in relationship with our relationship with God and our walk with God, that opens our eyes to the eternity of the Godhead, God family. That He is God, that He dwells in us, that He is the bread of life.

Christ said in John 6 that, eat this bread and you will live forever.

When we take the bread at Passover, we take that as a symbol of Christ's perfect life, broken for us through crucifixion and the scourging and the suffering. And we take that in, we eat that, to symbolize Christ in us, the hope of our glory, that the life we live now, we live by the life of the Son of God within us (Galatians 2:20). That's what it's all about. And that's what, to take it back to the message at Laodicea, that is what He is wanting them to come to understand.

That if you let me in, then you will see Me for who and what I am. You will be clothed with righteousness. You'll get your wealth in perspective. He's not, you know, He's implying, you'll still have that. You're not going to be poor. But you will then know that as you have the deepest, most important of relationships in your life, My life in you. And that will be what is the power to overcome and the reward to sit with Him on His throne. And He says and concludes that the message, “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The message to the Church at Laodicea could be said to be the most powerful.

Perhaps the most appropriate for the Church today. And if it fits us in any way because of the age in which we live, the richest time in human history, we in America, your parents and my parents, you know, more money than the average person, even in today's world. But then in the past, we are rich and increased and we are blessed.

And if we use it to put on garments of righteousness, that's what God wants.

If we use it and it separates us from God, that's not what He wants. Then we're miserable, poor, blind and naked. And Christ says, “I will spew you out of My mouth. I can't use you. You're not representative of the body of Christ.” So it's a very stern rebuke, but it's also an awesome path to recovery, to overcoming, and to experience the love of God.

So those are the messages to the seven congregations. We've taken a bit more time than I normally do to cover those in this class. But keep in mind that to all of them, there is that final message of overcoming. And to have that laurel wreath of a victor as shown here in this symbol, this image of the goddess Nike, those members in all those congregations would have understood all of that. And it's an important message for the rest of us. We will pick up with chapter four next time and do four and five, which is a powerful vision of the throne of God.