What the world associates with Christianity is not always a true representation of Jesus Christ. There are many imperfect portrayals of the Church to be certain. And there are even congregations of professing Christians who are by no means true believers. These absolutely do not reflect the truth of God s kingdom, and they will be judged as unbelievers unless they repent while there is still time. Before He begins to reveal the events surrounding His glorious appearance, the Lord Jesus Christ first corresponds with His Church in Revelation 2-3. His message is summed up in a letter to each of the seven churches located in first-century Asia Minor. In these, He evaluates every fellowship of professing believers as His appointed representative between His first and second advents. Each of the Lord s assessments pertains to the ministry of the respective congregation as a whole. While He makes clear distinctions between true and false believers in each, every letter speaks to the collective witness of a historical fellowship of believers. The correspondence in its entirety also seems to be an evaluation of Church history. We can surmise from this that, in any generation, there are churches with similar situations. So it is a call for true believers to be faithful and watchful in light of the Lord s imminent return, even if their church is not. And so, throughout, Christ has appealed to the faithful to persevere in their ministry, and He has assured them of their place in His kingdom. 1
Each letter has followed the same basic outline: a salutation, a commendation/condemnation, and an exhortation. Only two churches avoided any condemnation from the Lord. Smyrna was faithful as a result of severe persecution, and Philadelphia was faithful because of their commitment to spiritual maturity and holiness. The remaining five received His rebuke in varying degrees for some aspect of their unfaithfulness. Collectively, the first four of these demonstrate the path of decline from faithfulness to apostasy. Ephesus was orthodox in its ministry, but it lacked fervent love for Christ. This lack of love leads ultimately to a compromise of the truth, as seen in the church in Pergamos. This, as demonstrated in the church of Thyatira, allows false doctrine to seduce and corrupt a congregation with worldliness. And if a church does not repent at this point (like the church in Sardis) it becomes so weak that it is essentially lifeless. There are so few true Christians that a faithful witness as a congregation is all but non-existent. The Lord sternly warns each church to repent and become faithful or lose the privilege of being His witness. At the end of the spectrum is the apostate church. Like backsliding Israel, these are professing Christians who are self-deceived in their religious hypocrisy. Thus the Lord s final letter is to a congregation of apostates. He confronts their so-called Christianity and calls them to repentance and saving faith. 2
In this first portion of our study, we have introduced the letter for context and will now consider the salutation. Laodicea: Deceived and Hypocritical (Part I) The Salutation (v. 14) Having summoned a pastor ( angel - i.e. messenger) from each of the churches, the apostle John delivered what the Lord commanded Him to write to each. The letter would travel with the messenger along the Imperial Post Road until it reached its designated church. In this case, the congregation professing Christianity was located in the southwestern portion of an area known as Phrygia. This territory, once belonging to ancient kingdoms, was now relegated to the province of Asia (i.e. Asia Minor) as part of the Roman Empire. The name of their city was Laodicea a prominent and wealthy center for banking, textiles, and medicine. It was most noted for its production of a purportedly effective ointment for the eyes. This, along with its infamous aqueduct, which supplied the city with dirty, lukewarm water, are significant to our understanding of some of the Lord s statements herein. Like some of the other cities mentioned in these chapters, Laodicea was well-fortified on a plateau hundreds of feet in elevation. However, it had no natural supply of fresh water. The aforementioned aqueduct was constructed to carry water to the city from miles away. This obviously made its inhabitants vulnerable to enemies. 3
Historical records affirm that a large Jewish population resided there. They would have flourished financially with the rest of the city as commerce increased under Roman rule. Lying at the crossroads of two major highways that crisscrossed the region, Laodicea became an important exporter of its famous black wool and the associated textiles. It logically became a strategic banking center. The practice of medicine associated with ancient religions produced the highly valued eye salve mentioned earlier. The church in this city was an outreach of the apostle Paul s initial ministry in Ephesus (Acts 19:10), although the apostle himself did not found it (Col. 2:1). It is likely that his ministry partner, Epaphras, established the Laodicean church after doing the same in nearby Colossae (Col. 1:7) both 100 miles E of Ephesus. With all of this in mind, we can now look at how Christ introduces Himself to this church. The latter half of verse 14 speaks to His character and ministry as Lord of the Church. It identifies Him in a way that addresses the Laodicean congregation s wrong perception of both. 4
This evaluation of the Laodicean church (i.e. these things ) is from the mouth (i.e. says ) of the Amen. The word, amen, is used throughout the Bible to affirm something as true to express agreement and desire for that truth to be fulfilled. The apostle Paul used it of Christ in Second Corinthians 1:20 to affirm the Lord as the fulfillment of all God s promises: For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. That is, every promise of God to the believer is fulfilled in the Person and work of Christ. Those who believe His promises can wholeheartedly say, Amen So the Lord is declaring Himself to be the fulfillment of God s will as it pertains to His people. The Church is by definition the fellowship of God s people who are called out of the world into His kingdom (2 Tim. 1:9-11). Therefore, those who confess Him as Lord and profess to belong to that fellowship should agree with what God says about His Son (1 Jn. 4:2-6). Secondly, the Lord identifies Himself as the Faithful and True Witness. This is simply to say that, as the fulfillment of God s promises, the words of Jesus Christ are unquestionably true. Either you believe that He is the Son of God who brings salvation into the world by the light of God s truth (Jn. 1:4, 12-14; 14:6-7), or you do not. Everyone professing His name should, therefore, embrace Him and His witness of God (Jn. 3:11, 15-16, 21). 5
Finally, the Lord identifies Himself as the Beginning of the creation of God. This is significant because of the pre-gnostic heresy that had initially corrupted the Laodicean church. A false doctrine that was also present in its sister church in Colossae (cf. Col. 1:15-20) identified Christ as merely a created being. In other words, they denied the deity of Christ. Rather than being the Second Person of the Trinity, they viewed the incarnate God as but one in a series of lesser beings. So they denied both His deity and His true humanity. Having followed the path of decline seen in the other churches, Laodicea first tolerated false doctrine, was seduced and corrupted by it, and then succumbed to worldliness. It was now a church in name only. Its members professed Christianity, but they in no way reflected the image of Christ. They were a church literally full of tares with no wheat remaining (Matt. 13:24-30). There is no evidence of any true believers. Thus our Lord Jesus Christ declares that He is not a created being. No, He is Himself the Beginner of creation He is the everlasting God who spoke all things into existence by His own will and for His purpose. To accept Him as anything less is to reject God s revelation of His Son. Saving faith receives Christ as God incarnate. As John writes elsewhere: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God (1 Jn. 4:2-3). 6
Paul also emphasized to the Colossian Christians: [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn [i.e. having first place] over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of His body, the church, [He] is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all thing He may have the preeminence (Col. 1:15-18). The Lord begins with a pointed rebuke of this false teaching. He goes to the core of the heresy that led a once faithful church into total apostasy. He addresses this false Christian fellowship as the Lord of all Creation. As such, He is certainly the Lord of the Church with absolute authority to evaluate and judge all who claim to belong to Him. This is a picture of Christ that should make everyone who says they are a Christian examine themselves to make certain they are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). And it is a view of the Lord that should make every congregation of professing believers examine their church ministry. Without repentance, the Lord will certainly discipline unfaithful believers and unfaithful congregations. But without repentance and saving faith, the Lord will judge as unbelievers any and all who are Christian in name only; He will deny a church full of hypocrites (v. 16). 7
We will consider this in more detail in part two of our study (vv. 15-22). But even though the church of the Laodiceans was not a fellowship of true believers, the Lord sincerely desired them to be. While He in no way would tolerate their unbelief and false doctrines, He certainly called them to repentance and true faith. Though they were deceived and hypocritical, our Savior sincerely appealed to them with the Gospel and promised to bring into the faithful church all who would believe in Him (vv. 20-21). There are many who claim to follow Christ, but they do not believe God s revelation of His Son. There are entire religious systems that label themselves as Christian, but they take liberty with the truth of Scripture and twist it to fit their own purposes. However, they cannot escape the Lord s evaluation. Their loose association with Him does not excuse their unbelief and error. Their only hope is repentance and faith, and only then can they be true believers in the fellowship of the true Church. Is your Christianity a true representation of Christ? Do you believe that He is the Son of God as revealed in the Bible? Do you believe He is the Chirst who has come in the flesh, died for your sins and rose again from the dead? Do you embrace Him as the Lord of the Church? 8