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 comingled, 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 Angels Message] when it shall have swelled into the Loud Cry.--The Review and Herald, No. 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 Gods 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 souls 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 angels (the ministrys) 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 liars, for a liar knows that he is lying. O awake, Brother, Sister, awake! awake! (VTH_JHB). ANSWERER BOOK 1: 9-17.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 07:11:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015