Laodicea
Laodicea
Question:
What is wrong with
Laodicea and what is the remedy?
Answer:
Describing
her condition in present-day language, Inspiration declares:
�The message
to the church of the Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable
to the people of God at the present time....
�The
people of God are represented in the message to the Laodiceans as in a position
of carnal security. They are at ease, believing themselves to be in an exalted
condition of spiritual attainments....
�What greater
deception can come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right, when
they are all wrong! The message of the True Witness finds the people of God in
a sad deception, yet honest in that deception. They know not that their
condition is deplorable in the sight of God. While those addressed are
flattering themselves that they are in an exalted spiritual condition, the
message of the True Witness breaks their security by the startling denunciation
of their true condition of spiritual blindness, poverty, and wretchedness. The
testimony, so cutting and severe, cannot be a mistake, for it is the True
Witness who speaks, and his testimony must be correct.�-Testimonies, Vol. 3,
pp. 252, 253.
�I asked the
meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the
straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the
Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will
lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not
bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what
will cause a shaking among God�s people.
�I saw that
the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded. The solemn
testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has been lightly esteemed,
if not entirely disregarded.�-Early Writings, p. 270.
�...our own
course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness,
and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation.
Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion
is that the church is flourishing, and that peace and spiritual prosperity are
in all her borders.
�The church
has turned back from following Christ her Leader, and is steadily retreating
toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual
power. Doubt and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is
leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach
self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and
unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from his word and
from the testimonies, and both have been slighted and disregarded. The result
is apparent in the lack of purity and devotion and earnest faith among
us.�-Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217.
Let
Us Reason Together.
The Laodicean church, the last of the seven churches (Rev.
2;3), being figurative of the Christian church in her last period, our time,
the message on record to her is therefore the last message to the church. So,
plainly, if there is any Bible subject essential for the church to study, the
message to the Laodiceans certainly is.
Although satisfied with their attainments, the Laodiceans
who believe and take God at His Word will not question Him concerning their
condition but will, whether they see it or not, acknowledge that they are in a
�sad deception,� �wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.�
Having honestly made this acknowledgment, they will, in consequent obedience to
the True Witness� counsel to buy of Him eyesalve which He alone can supply,
anoint their eyes with it and be able to see.
Those, though, who recline in the false security of
self-complacence, will pay no attention to the warning counsel, and will as a
result lose everything-be spued out! Yet how few does this dread threat alarm!
How few does it impel to find out where the trouble lies and how they stand!
How few, indeed, does it even trouble! And O how few incline to inquire into it
for fear that it may rebuke their evil course and deprive them of some sinful
pleasure which they dearly cherish! Surprisingly few yet all too truly.
Seven
Questions.
1. Who is Laodicea?
2. Whom does the angel represent?
3. What is meant by being wretched and
miserable and poor and blind and naked?
4. What is it to be �lukewarm�?
5. Why does God prefer one either cold or hot
rather than lukewarm?
6. What is the eyesalve?
7. Should Laodicea fail to repent, how would
her shame be uncovered?
The Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, describes the condition of each of the seven
churches, the last of which is the Laodicean. These churches, admittedly,
portray the Christian church in seven different periods; the seventh, Laodicea,
depicting her in the period just before the �harvest,� the last in which the
�wheat and tares� are commingled, and the one in which she is to experience the
separation of the bad from among the good (Matt. 13:30, 47-49).
Since in her
every section, the church must be true to her name (it alone being her
identification), we shall therefore consider the question:
Who Is
Laodicea?
Laodicea may
be infallibly recognized amidst the many �isms� of Christendom by the work she
is doing---declaring the judgment. Indeed, this mark of identification is
pointed out by the very name Laodicea, compounded of the two Greek words lao
and dekei, the one meaning �people,� also �speak,� the other meaning
�judgment,� the two in one meaning the people declaring judgment. The church,
therefore, which declares, �Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of
His judgment is come� (Rev. 14:7), is evidently the one called Laodicea. And it
is almost as well known outside Seventh-day Adventist circles as within, that
the Seventh-day Adventist church is endeavoring to carry the judgment message
of Revelation 14:7, and is therefore unchallenged in her claim to the title,
Laodicea.
Since,
therefore, the Seventh-day Adventist church is the only one proclaiming the
judgment, and since each of the seven messages is addressed to the angel of the
respective churches, the message to Laodicea is accordingly addressed
To the Seventh-day Adventist Angel.
According to
Revelation 1:20, the �candlesticks� symbolize the churches, and the �stars� the
angels (leaders) who have charge over the churches. Being the attendants of the
churches, the angels are thus seen to be the ministry, whose responsibility is
to have the lamps trimmed, filled with oil, and burning brightly, so that the
church may give light to all about her.
Accordingly,
as the Laodicean angel, him to whom the condemnatory message is sent, is
symbolical of the ministry in Laodicea, he should consequently be the more
anxious to discover where the trouble lies, for he is, says the Lord,
Wretched, Miserable, Poor, Blind, And
Naked.
With a
ministry wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, what church (candlestick)
could possibly stay lighted? And with her light thus gone out or but flickering
dimly, how could she lighten the world as God has set her to do? Through the
eyes of the True Witness, therefore, the tragedy of Laodicea is starkly
seen---�sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people� (Testimonies, Vol.
2, p. 337), while a sin-benighted world plunges on hell-bent in its darkness! O
what a piteous plight! And yet it is so utterly overlooked!
With both
ministry and laity in such a pitiful state of darkness, it is clear to be seen
that though the Laodicean church is the last in the order of the seven
churches, God cannot through her lighten the world and prepare His people for
the Kingdom when she is in darkness and unprepared herself. Hence the necessity
of a new order, a new ministry, as predicted in Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80, and
in Zephaniah 3 :11, 12.
Then it will
come to pass that �only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of
the Mighty One, will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it [the Third
Angel�s Message] when it shall have swelled into the Loud Cry.�--The Review and
Herald, Nov. 19, 1908.
In the light
of these facts, the prophetic message to the angel of the Laodiceans must
obviously be brought and proclaimed by someone other than the angel himself.
But this, of course, is the very thing that neither the ministry nor the laity
expect or wish to happen. For the sake of the faithful, nevertheless, it is
happening.
So since
God�s Word says that the ministry of the Laodicean church is wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked, and that neither they nor the laity are
aware of the fact, it lends heavy emphasis to the statements: �Sleeping
preachers preaching to a sleeping people!� (Testimonies, Vol. 2. p. 337); �the
message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a sad deception, yet
honest in that deception.�-Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 253.
Although they
are in this horrible predicament, one which should make them tremble and fear,
and give anything to get out of, yet they continue
Lukewarm-Neither Cold Nor Hot.
When one
finds himself in a climate which is neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, a temperature
desired and sought by all, there he basks as a pauper become a prince! So it is
with the Laodiceans, as represented in prophecy, though their supposed riches
are nothing but a death trap!
To rescue one
from such a terrible deception is a task which calls for the utmost wisdom not
only because the victim is blindly inured to the perilous condition he is in,
while his rescuers are endeavoring to save him from perishing, but also because
he considers them as his enemies, false prophets, instead of as his friends and
deliverers, messengers from God!
From the life
line, the saving message which they pleadingly hold forth to him, he recoils.
And consequently by his attitude against them, he shouts: Away, away, I am rich
and increased with goods: I have need of nothing; I have all the truth. �I am
satisfied with my position. I have set my stakes, and I will not be moved away
from my position, whatever may come.�-Testimonies on Sabbath-School Work, p.
65; Counsels on Sabbath-School Work, p. 28.
In protesting
that they are not wretched (not unhappy), not miserable (not troubled), not
poor (not in need of truth), not blind (not benighted or illiterate), not naked
(not without the righteousness of Christ), the Laodiceans are contradicting the
True Witness, rejecting His counsel, and discrediting His remedy--
The Eyesalve.
As only the
�salve� will heal them from their deadly Laodicean malady, hence if they fail
to avail themselves of the cure (by searching for truth as for hidden treasure)
and to apply it (to repent), they will be spued out. O, Brother, Sister, will
you not call for the �salve�? or will you continue in your wretchedness,
miserableness, poverty, blindness, and nakedness, and thus compel Him to spue
you out and to
Uncover Your Shame?
That your
shame, Brethren, might not appear to all, God has long forborne to expose to
the world the sins which you have cherished and kept under cover. Not forever,
though, will He forbear. So for your soul�s sake, argue no longer that you have
all the Truth; cease adding sin to sin; repent, and return to Him; He will just
as gladly accept you and make a feast for you as did the father in the parable
welcome back his prodigal son and make a feast for him.
Be not like
the Jew. But open your heart; cast out its pride, its prejudice, and its
self-conceit; let these not deprive you of eternal life at such a late hour as
this. If you repeat the mistake of the Jews, your shame and your loss will be
as much greater than theirs as are your light and your opportunities and
privileges. Yea, beyond comparison! So do not fail, we plead with you, to end
your long Laodicean sickness and poverty, and no longer imagine that you are
Rich, Increased With Goods.
Never do you
even so much as intimate that you have all the buildings, all the institutions,
all the money, all the workers, all the converts you need! Your only boast is
of having no need of more truth! This attitude, therefore, the Lord says, is
the way in which you are saying, �I am rich and increased with goods, and have
need of nothing.� It is the source of your trouble, and the thing which He
expects you to confess and to repent of.
The angel�s
(the ministry�s) mistaken claim of being rich and increased with goods and in
need of nothing, does not make him a liar, but rather shows him to be a victim
of ignorance and delusion. But his thinking that he has and knows all the
Truth, makes his condition even more perilous than a liar�s, for a liar knows
that he is lying. O awake, Brother, Sister, awake! awake!
Do As Did Nathaniel.
Come and see!
See what? Laodiceans, rich and increased with goods, and in need of nothing,
with the excuse that the need to take care of the material things of life (Luke
14:15-19) forbids their accepting the invitation? Indeed not!
See the Laodiceans
from the streets and lanes---�the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the
blind� (Luke 14:21), gladly availing themselves of the remedy!
But, alas,
not all who come, remain, for �when any one heareth the word of the kingdom,
and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that
which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.�
Be not like him, but make the effort required to understand the, Truth. And
others, �when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word,� are
offended. These are they �that received the seed into stony places.� Neither be
like them; be rooted in the Truth. �But he that received seed into the good
ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth
fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.� Matt.
13:19-23.
Though the
�bad� along with the �good� are still coming (for we are yet in the period in
which the wheat and the tares, the good and the bad fish, commingle), you need
not be of the tares or of the �bad fish.� Be of the wheat, do as the �good�:
lay aside your own thoughts and ways, then take the Lord�s, for He says: �...My
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways...For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My
thoughts than your thoughts.� Isa. 55:8, 9.
And finally,
never be like a Pharisee who can see the mote in his brother�s eye, but cannot
see the beam in his own (Matt. 7:3). For after all, �Who art thou?� asks the
Lord. Art thou thyself not a Laodicean? How �judgest� thou �another man�s
servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up:
for God is able to make him stand.� Rom 14:4.
Then
all of us together �shall have spiritual eyesight to discern the inner courts
of the celestial temple. We shall catch the themes of song and thanksgiving of
the heavenly choir round about the throne. When Zion shall arise and shine, her
light will be most penetrating, and precious songs of praise and thanksgiving
will be heard in the assemblies of the saints. . . . As we apply the golden
eye-salve, we shall see the glories beyond. Faith will cut through the heavy
shadow of Satan, and we shall see our Advocate offering up the incense of His
own merits in our behalf. When we see this as it is, as the Lord desires us to
see it, we shall be filled with a sense of the immensity and diversity of the
love of God.�-Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 368.