Church in Laodicea - Rich, Increased with Goods and Have Need of Nothing

LAODICEA

14 And unto the Angel (Pastor) of the Church of the Laodiceans write (this is the “Apostate Church”; we do not know when it began, but we do know it has begun; it is the last Church addressed by Christ, so that means the Rapture will take place very shortly); These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness (by contrast to His Church, which is not faithful and true), the beginning of the Creation of God (Jesus is the Creator of all things);

15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot (characterizes that which is prevalent at this present time): I would you were cold or hot (half measures won’t do).

16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot (if a person is lukewarm towards something, it means he hasn’t rejected it, but at the same time he has by no means accepted it; in the Mind of God, a tepid response is equal to a negative response), I will spue you out of My mouth. (There is no prospect of Repentance here on the part of this Church, or Restoration. In fact, there is Divine rejection.)

17 Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing (they equated the increase in material goods with spiritual Blessings, which they were not); and knowest not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (the tragedy lay in the fact that while this Church gloated over material wealth, she was unconscious of her spiritual poverty; again indicative of the modern Church!):

18 I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich (what they needed to “buy” could not be purchased with money, but only with the precious Blood of Christ, which price has already been paid; but the modern Church is not interested!); and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear (refers to Righteousness which is exclusively of Christ, and is gained only by Faith in Christ and the Cross; this tells us that the Laodicean Church is extremely self-righteous; not having the Righteousness of Christ, they are “naked” to the Judgment of God); and anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see. (The modern Church is also spiritually blind.)

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten (implies a remnant): be zealous therefore, and repent. (The modern Church desperately needs to repent for its rebellion against God’s Divine Order [Christ and the Cross] and for following cunningly devised fables [2 Pet. 1:16].)

20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock (presents Christ outside the Church): if any man hear My voice (so much religious racket is going on that it is difficult to “hear His Voice”), and open the door (Christ is the True Door, which means the Church has erected another door), I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. (Having been rejected by the Church, our Lord now appeals to individuals, and He is still doing so presently.)

21 To him who overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne (the overcomer will gain the prize of the Throne, which can only be done by one ever making the Cross the Object of His Faith), even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne. (This presents Christ as our Substitute, going before us, and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.)

22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches. (In plain language, the Holy Spirit is saying, “come back to Christ and the Cross!”)

 

Swaggart, J. (2005). The Expositor’s Study Bible (pp. 2187–2188). Baton Rouge, LA: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.