ROBERT@kontu.utu.fi (Robert W. Johnson) (03/27/91)
In a series of articles I am going to present the entire Church history as
phrophezied in Revelation 2:1-3:22. These verses phrophezy concerning the
first Church to the last Church before the Lord returns.
If you would like a list of references on Church history please send me a
note.
Note: This posting is very long. It will be divided into seven parts (there
are epistles to seven Churches.) Each part will consist of one or more
subparts.
Part VII of VII - Subpart 1 of 2 of Part VII
CHAPTER 3
III. "THE THINGS WHICH ARE" --
THE SEVEN LOCAL CHURCHES
2:1-3:22
G. Church in Laodicea --
the Church in Degradation
3:14-22
14 And to the (1)messanger of the church in (2a)Laodicea write: These
things says the (3b)Amen, the faithful and true (c)Witness, the (4d)begin-
ning of the creation of God:
(1) Gk. angel.
(2) "Laodicea" in Greek means the opinion, the judgment, of the people or of
the laymen. The church in Laodicea as a sign prefigures the degraded recovered
church. Less than one century after the Lord recovered the proper church in
the early part of the nineteeneth century, some of the recovered churches
("assemblies") became degraded. This degraded recovered church differs from
the reformed church, signified by the church in Sardis, and also differs
from the proper recovered church, signified by the church in Philadelphia.
It will exist until the Lord comes back.
(3) To each of the seven churches the Lord refers to what He is and what He
does respecitively according to their situation and condition. here, to the
church in Laodicea, He refers to Himself as "the Amen, the faithful and true
Witness, the beginning of the creation of God." Amen in Greek means firm,
steadfast, and trustworthy. The Lord is the firm, steadfast, and trustworthy
One. Hence, he is the faithful and true Witness. This indicates that the
degraded church in Laodicea is not firm, steadfast, trustworthy, nor
faithful and true to the Lord's witness. "The beginning of the creation of
God" refers to the Lord as the origin or source of God's creation, implying
that the Lord is the unchanging and ever-existing source of God's work.
This indicates that the degraded recovered church is changing by leaving the
Lord as the source.
(4) Or, origin, source, that is, the originating source.
(a) Col. 2:1; 4:16 (b) Isa. 65:16; 2 Cor. 1:20 (c) Rev. 1:5 (d) Col. 1:15
15 I (a)know your works, that you are neither cold nor (1)hot; I wish
you were cold or (1b)hot.
(1) and 16(1) boiling.
(a) Rev. 2:2 (b) Rom. 12:11
16 So because you are lukewarm and neither (1)hot nor cold, I am about
to vomit you out of My mouth.
17 because you (1)say, I am (a)rich and have become rich and have need
of nothing, and do not know that you are (b)wretched and miserable and poor
and (c)blind and (d)naked;
(1) The degraded recovered church ("assembly") boasts of her riches (mainly
in the knowledge of doctrines). She does not realize that she is poor in life,
blind in sight, and naked in conduct. Therefore, she needs gold for her
poverty, eyesalve for her blindness, and white garments for her nakedness,
as mentioned in the following verse.
(a) 1 Cor. 4:8; cf. Matt. 5:3; Rev. 2:9 (b) cf. Rom. 7:24 (c) 2 Pet. 1:9;
Matt. 15:14; 23:16, 17, 19, 24, 26 (d) rev. 16:15
-----
Robert W. Johnson
Computer center, The University of Turku, Turku Finland
robert@kontu.utu.fi (InterNet)
robert@firien.bitnet (BITNET)
The preceeding is my opinion and may not express the opinion of my employer
and furthermore has nothing to do with my employment.