The church at Laodicea: Part 5 of 5 (series: Lessons on Revelations)

by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

Dear reader, never say that Christ has NOT knocked at the door of your heart. Reflect seriously on your past life, and you will recall, I am the sure, a variety of ways in which the Savior has knocked at your door. He has knocked through suffering, poverty, the death of a loved one, a marital rift, the clearer gospel witness through a sermon, the personal testimony of someone concerned for your soul, or the quiet godly life of some child of God. But He has been there knocking, and He is there again, right now. While you are alive and able, let Him in at once to take over your whole personality.

21 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.

The promise of the Risen Christ is that the one that overcometh will sit with Him in His own victorious throne—“HIM THAT OVERCOMETH WILL I GRANT TO SIT WITH ME IN MY THRONE”— a reward unlike the wreaths or crowns already mentioned that are given to winners of a competition. Instead, this is the offer to rule with Jesus. We will get the picture right if we remember that the eastern throne was more like a couch than a single seat. The overcomer in life will share the throne of the victorious Christ. Christ on his throne refers to the heavenly kingdom (see also 1:6, 9; 2:26-27). Believers reigning with Christ is mentioned in several places in Scripture (see, for example, Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28-30; Romans 8:17; 2 Timothy 2:12). This promise is certain because Christ won that right for believers through His own victory on the Cross. Victorious over sin and death when He rose again, He sat with His Father on His throne. The gospel of Mark records that “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19).

The throne of Jesus will be in Jerusalem (Luke 1:32, 33; Matthew 19:28; Acts 2:30-35; Acts 15:14-16). However, the kingdom will be universal—that is, throughout the earth. Read Psalm 72:8; Zechariah 14:9, and Psalm 8. The kingdom will be filled with righteousness.

22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

All seven letters finish with the words: “LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAITH UNTO THE CHURCHES.” This saying does two things.

• It individualizes the message of the letters. It says to every man: “This means you.” So often we listen to a message which comes through a preacher and applies it to everyone but ourselves. In our heart of hearts, we believe that the stern words cannot possibly be meant for us and that the promises are too good to be true for us. This phrase says to every one of us: “All these things are meant for you.”
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• It generalizes the message of the letters. It means that their message was not confined to the people in the seven Churches two thousand years ago, but that through them the Spirit is speaking to every man in every generation. We have set these letters carefully against the local situations to which they were addressed, but their message is not local and temporary. It is eternal and in them, the Spirit still speaks to us.

Although a different message was addressed to each church, all the messages contain warnings and principles for everyone. The church at Laodicea is typical of a modern church quite unconscious of its spiritual needs and content with beautiful buildings and all the material things money can buy.


End Notes

1 Angel: the pastor-messenger designated to deliver this letter.