Life Study of Revelation message 16

the Church in Laodicea

here the church in Laodicea signifies the degraded recovered church. the Lord reacted to the church in Sardis and raised up the brotherly love church, Philadelphia. However, if Philadelphia does not hold fast to what she has, she will become degraded again, therefore becoming Laodicea. 

the prominent characteristic of Laodicea is they are neither cold nor hot, which means they are lukewarm. the Lord said that He would rather spew them out His mouth. this should be a warning to us, that if we become lukewarm like Laodicea, the danger is that the Lord will spew us out from His mouth. I was kind of wondering, how can they become lukewarm, like not just cold? Because they once were Philadelphia, they did receive many riches from the Lord, this leads to what the Lord says in verse 17, that they think they are wealthy but they are poor. they think they are wealthy, because the Lord did recover so many truths through them and they became proud of their spiritual riches. but think about their situation later, saying that the Lord is standing at the door and knocking. they had all these truths but they did not have the Lord. the Lord was outside the church, knocking the door, trying to get inside. this is a warning to us today also. now we have this open bible, all the published ministry books. the question is how are we reading the Bible, reading the books? are we reading with the Lord, or are we reading them with the Lord standing outside and knocking? without the living Lord, all these truths are just dead doctrines, dead letters, which will kill us. it is the Spirit that gives life. so while we are reading the word, how much we need to exercise our spirit to touch the life-giving Spirit, to touch the living Person. 

the Lord charges the church in Laodicea to:

1. buy gold refined by fire: gain more of God, more of His nature to be worked into our being, so we can have more divine element added into our being.

2. white garments: in our daily living, we need to live out Christ, express and magnify Christ. this is also to prepare our wedding garment, so we can be ready when the Lord comes back. 

3. eyesalve to anoint their eyes: because of their spiritual pride and lukewarmness, they do not have spiritual insight to see the things of God and God's economy. therefore, they need the anointing Spirit.

the Lord charged the church in Laodicea to "buy", not to take freely. for this one, we need to buy, which implies that we need to "pay the price". the three items above do not come freely, even do not come in a cheap way. we have to be willing to pay the price. what price can we pay? obviously, at least, we can pay the price of "our time". may the Lord help us to redeem our time to spend more time with the Lord and in His word. 

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore and repent. 

this verse is such a comfort to us. the Lord's spending time to discipline us is a sign that He loves us. if we realize this point, we will be willing to accept the Lord's discipline, and will be willing to repent. 

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me. 

Revelation 3:21 He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne. 

the Lord promises to the overcomers to sit with the Lord on His throne: to be co-kings to reign with the Lord during the millennial kingdom.