Revelation 3

Re 3:1-22.

THE

EPISTLES TO

SARDIS,

PHILADELPHIA, AND

LAODICEA.

1. Sardis--the ancient capital of Lydia, the kingdom of wealthy

Croesus, on the river Pactolus. The address to this Church is full of

rebuke. It does not seem to have been in vain; for

MELITO, bishop of Sardis in the second century,

was eminent for piety and learning. He visited Palestine to assure

himself and his flock as to the Old Testament canon and wrote an

epistle on the subject [EUSEBIUS Ecclesiastical

History, 4.26]; he also wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse

[EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26;

JEROME, On Illustrious Men, 24].

he that hath the seven Spirits of God--that is, He who hath all

the fulness of the Spirit

(Re 1:4; 4:5; 5:6,

with which compare

Zec 3:9; 4:10,

proving His Godhead). This attribute implies His infinite power by the

Spirit to convict of sin and of a hollow profession.

and the seven stars--

(Re 1:16, 20).

His having the seven stars, or presiding ministers, flows, as a

consequence, from His having the seven Spirits, or the fulness

of the Holy Spirit. The human ministry is the fruit of Christ's sending

down the gifts of the Spirit. Stars imply brilliancy and glory;

the fulness of the Spirit, and the fulness of brilliant light in Him,

form a designed contrast to the formality which He reproves.

name . . . livest . . . dead--

(1Ti 5:6;

2Ti 3:5;

Tit 1:16;

compare

Eph 2:1, 5; 5:14).

"A name," that is, a reputation. Sardis was famed among the churches

for spiritual vitality; yet the Heart-searcher, who seeth not as

man seeth, pronounces her dead; how great searchings of heart

should her case create among even the best of us! Laodicea deceived

herself as to her true state

(Re 3:17),

but it is not written that she had a high name among the other

churches, as Sardis had.

2. Be--Greek. "Become," what thou art not, "watchful," or

"wakeful," literally, "waking."

the things which remain--Strengthen those thy remaining few

graces, which, in thy spiritual deadly slumber, are not yet quite

extinct [ALFORD]. "The things that remain" can

hardly mean "the PERSONS that are not yet dead,

but are ready to die"; for

Re 3:4

implies that the "few" faithful ones at Sardis were not "ready to die,"

but were full of life.

are--The two oldest manuscripts read, "were ready," literally,

"were about to die," namely, at the time when you "strengthen" them.

This implies that "thou art dead,"

Re 3:1,

is to be taken with limitation; for those must have some life who are

told to strengthen the things that remain.

perfect--literally, "filled up in full complement"; Translate,

"complete." Weighed in the balance of Him who requires living faith as

the motive of works, and found wanting.

before God--Greek, "in the sight of God." The three

oldest manuscripts, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic, read,

"before (in the sight of) MY God"; Christ's judgment is God the

Father's judgment. In the sight of men, Sardis had "a name of living":

"so many and so great are the obligations of pastors, that he who would

in reality fulfil even a third of them, would be esteemed holy by men,

whereas, if content with that alone, he would be sure not to escape

hell" [JUAN D'AVILA]. Note:

in Sardis and Laodicea alone of the seven we read of no conflict with

foes within or without the Church. Not that either had renounced the

appearance of opposition to the world; but neither had the

faithfulness to witness for God by word and example, so as to "torment

them that dwelt on the earth"

(Re 11:10).

3. how thou hast received--

(Col 2:6;

1Th 4:1;

1Ti 6:20).

What Sardis is to "remember" is, not how joyfully she had

received originally the Gospel message, but how the precious deposit

was committed to her originally, so that she could not say, she had not

"received and heard" it. The Greek is not aorist (as in

Re 2:4,

as to Ephesus, "Thou didst leave thy first love"), but "thou

hast received" (perfect), and still hast the permanent deposit of

doctrine committed to thee. The word "keep" (so the Greek is for

English Version, "hold fast") which follows, accords with this

sense. "Keep" or observe the commandment which thou hast received and

didst hear.

heard--Greek aorist, "didst hear," namely, when the

Gospel doctrine was committed to thee. TRENCH

explains "how," with what demonstration of the Spirit and power

from Christ's ambassadors the truth came to you, and how heartily and

zealously you at first received it. Similarly

BENGEL, "Regard to her former character

(how it once stood) ought to guard Sardis against the future

hour, whatsoever it shall be, proving fatal to her." But it is

not likely that the Spirit repeats the same exhortation virtually to

Sardis as to Ephesus.

If therefore--seeing thou art so warned, if, nevertheless, &c.

come on thee as a thief--in special judgment on thee as a

Church, with the same stealthiness and as unexpectedly as shall be My

visible second coming. As the thief gives no notice of his

approach. Christ applies the language which in its fullest sense

describes His second coming, to describe His coming in special

judgments on churches and states (as Jerusalem,

Mt 24:4-28)

these special judgments being anticipatory earnests of that great last

coming. "The last day is hidden from us, that every day may be observed

His flesh spake the same words

(Mt 24:42, 43;

Lu 12:39, 40);

and so deeply had His words been engraven on the minds of the apostles

that they are often repeated in their writings

(Re 16:15;

1Th 5:2, 4, 6;

2Pe 3:10).

The Greek proverb was that "the feet of the avenging deities are shod

with wool," expressing the noiseless approach of the divine judgments,

and their possible nearness at the moment when they were supposed the

farthest off [TRENCH].

4. The three oldest manuscripts prefix "but," or "nevertheless"

(notwithstanding thy spiritual deadness), and omit "even."

names--persons named in the book of life

(Re 3:5)

known by name by the Lord as His own. These had the reality

corresponding to their name; not a mere name among men as

living, while really dead

(Re 3:1).

The gracious Lord does not overlook any exceptional cases of real

saints in the midst of unreal professors.

not defiled their garments--namely, the garments of their

Christian profession, of which baptism is the initiatory seal, whence

the candidates for baptism used in the ancient Church to be arrayed in

white. Compare also

Eph 5:27,

as to the spotlessness of the Church when she shall be presented to

Christ; and

Re 19:8,

as to the "fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the

saints," in which it shall be granted to her to be arrayed; and "the

wedding garment." Meanwhile she is not to sully her Christian

profession with any defilement of flesh or spirit, but to "keep her

garments." For no defilement shall enter the heavenly city. Not that

any keep themselves here wholly free from defilement; but, as compared

with hollow professors, the godly keep themselves unspotted from the

world; and when they do contract it, they wash it away, so as to

have their "robes white in the blood of the Lamb"

(Re 7:14).

The Greek is not "to stain" (Greek, "miainein"),

but to "defile," or besmear (Greek, "molunein"),

So 5:3.

they shall walk with me in white--The promised reward accords

with the character of those to be rewarded: keeping their garments

undefiled and white through the blood of the Lamb now, they shall

walk with Him in while hereafter. On "with me," compare the very

same words,

Lu 23:43;

Joh 17:24.

"Walk" implies spiritual life, for only the living walk; also liberty,

for it is only the free who walk at large. The grace and dignity of

flowing long garments is seen to best advantage when the person

"walks": so the graces of the saint's manifested character shall appear

fully when he shall serve the Lord perfectly hereafter

(Re 22:3).

they are worthy--with the worthiness (not their own, but that)

which Christ has put on them

(Re 7:14).

Eze 16:14,

"perfect through MY comeliness which I had put upon thee." Grace is

glory in the bud. "The worthiness here denotes a congruity

between the saint's state of grace on earth, and that of

glory, which the Lord has appointed for them, about to be

estimated by the law itself of grace" [VITRINGA].

Contrast

Ac 13:46.

5. white--not a dull white, but glittering, dazzling white

[GROTIUS]. Compare

Mt 13:43.

The body transfigured into the likeness of Christ's body, and emitting

beams of light reflected from Him, is probably the "white raiment"

promised here.

the same--Greek, "THIS man"; he and

he alone. So one oldest manuscript reads. But two oldest manuscripts,

and most of the ancient versions, "shall THUS be

clothed," &c.

raiment--Greek, "garments." "He that overcometh" shall

receive the same reward as they who "have not defiled their garments"

(Re 3:4);

therefore the two are identical.

I will not--Greek, "I will not by any means."

blot out . . . name out of . . . book of

life--of the heavenly city. A register was kept in ancient cities

of their citizens: the names of the dead were of course erased. So

those who have a name that they live and are dead

(Re 3:1),

are blotted out of God's roll of the heavenly citizens and heirs of

eternal life; not that in God's electing decree they ever were

in His book of life. But, according to human conceptions, those who had

a high name for piety would be supposed to be in it, and were, in

respect to privileges, actually among those in the way of salvation;

but these privileges, and the fact that they once might have been

saved, shall be of no avail to them. As to the book of life,

compare

Re

13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27;

Ex 32:32;

Ps 69:28;

Da 12:1.

In the sense of the "call," many are enrolled among the called

to salvation, who shall not be found among the chosen at last.

The pale of salvation is wider than that of election. Election is

fixed. Salvation is open to all and is pending (humanly speaking) in

the case of those mentioned here. But

Re 20:15; 21:27,

exhibit the book of the elect alone in the narrower sense, after the

erasure of the others.

before . . . before--Greek, "in the presence

of." Compare the same promise of Christ's confessing before His Father

those who confessed Him,

Mt 10:32, 33;

Lu 12:8, 9.

He omits "in heaven" after "My Father," because there is, now that He

is in heaven, no contrast between the Father in heaven and the

Son on earth. He now sets His seal from heaven upon many of His

words uttered on earth [TRENCH]. An undesigned

coincidence, proving that these epistles are, as they profess, in their

words, as well as substance, Christ's own addresses; not even tinged

with the color of John's style, such as it appears in his Gospel and

Epistles. The coincidence is mainly with the three other Gospels, and

not with John's, which makes the coincidence more markedly undesigned.

So also the clause, "He that hath an ear, let him hear," is not

repeated from John's Gospel, but from the Lord's own words in the three

synoptic Gospels

(Mt 11:15; 13:9;

Mr 4:9, 23; 7:16;

Lu 8:8; 14:35).

6. (See on

Re 2:7.)

7. Philadelphia--in Lydia, twenty-eight miles southeast of

Sardis, built by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos, who died

A.D. 138. It was nearly destroyed by an earthquake

in the reign of Tiberius [TACITUS, Annals,

2.47]. The connection of this Church with Jews there causes the address

to it to have an Old Testament coloring in the images employed. It and

Smyrna alone of the seven receive unmixed praise.

he that is holy--as in the Old Testament, "the Holy One

of Israel." Thus Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are one. None

but God is absolutely holy (Greek, "hagios," separate

from evil and perfectly hating it). In contrast to "the synagogue of

Satan"

(Re 3:9).

true--Greek, "alethinos":

"VERY God," as distinguished from the false gods

and from all those who say that they are what they are

not

(Re 3:9):

real, genuine. Furthermore, He perfectly realizes all that is

involved in the names, GOD, Light

(Joh 1:9;

1Jo 2:8),

Bread

(Joh 6:32),

the Vine

(Joh 15:1);

as distinguished from all typical, partial, and imperfect realizations

of the idea. His nature answers to His name

(Joh 17:3;

1Th 1:9).

The Greek, "alethes," on the other hand, is

"truth-speaking," "truth-loving"

(Joh 3:33;

Tit 1:2).

he that hath the key of David--the antitype of Eliakim, to whom

the "key," the emblem of authority "over the house of David," was

transferred from Shebna, who was removed from the office of chamberlain

or treasurer, as unworthy of it. Christ, the Heir of the throne of

David, shall supplant all the less worthy stewards who have abused

their trust in God's spiritual house, and "shall reign over the house

of Jacob," literal and spiritual

(Lu 1:32, 33),

"for ever," "as a Son over His own house"

(Heb 3:2-6).

It rests with Christ to open or shut the heavenly palace, deciding who

is, and who is not, to be admitted: as He also opens, or shuts, the

prison, having the keys of hell (the grave) and

death

(Re 1:18).

The power of the keys was given to Peter and the other apostles, only

when, and in so far as, Christ made him and them infallible. Whatever

degrees of this power may have been committed to ministers, the supreme

power belongs to Christ alone. Thus Peter rightly opened the Gospel

door to the Gentiles

(Ac 10:1-48; 11:17, 18;

especially

Ac 14:27,

end). But he wrongly tried to shut the door in part again

(Ga 2:11-18).

Eliakim had "the key of the house of David laid upon his shoulder":

Christ, as the antitypical David, Himself has the key of the supreme

"government upon His shoulder." His attribute here, as in the former

addresses, accords with His promise. Though "the synagogue of Satan,"

false "Jews"

(Re 3:9)

try to "shut" the "door" which I "set open before thee"; "no man can

shut it"

(Re 3:8).

shutteth--So Vulgate and Syriac Versions read. But

the four oldest manuscripts read, "shall shut"; so Coptic

Version and ORIGEN.

and no man openeth--Two oldest manuscripts, B, Aleph,

Coptic Version, and ORIGEN read, "shall

open." Two oldest manuscripts, A, C, and Vulgate Version support

English Version reading.

8. I have set--Greek, "given": it is My gracious

gift to thee.

open door--for evangelization; a door of spiritual usefulness.

The opening of a door by Him to the Philadelphian Church accords

with the previous assignation to Him of "the key of David."

and--The three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, and ORIGEN read, "which no man can shut."

for--"because."

a little--This gives the idea that Christ says, He sets before

Philadelphia an open door because she has some little strength;

whereas the sense rather is, He does so because she has "but

little strength": being consciously weak herself, she is the fitter

object for God's power to rest on [so AQUINAS],

that so the Lord Christ may have all the glory.

and hast kept--and so, the littleness of thy

strength becoming the source of Almighty power to thee, as leading

thee to rest wholly on My great power, thou hast kept My word.

GROTIUS makes "little strength" to mean that she

had a Church small in numbers and external resources: "a little

flock poor in worldly goods, and of small account in the eyes of men"

[TRENCH]. So ALFORD. I prefer

the view given above. The Greek verbs are in the aorist tense:

"Thou didst keep . . . didst not deny My name": alluding to

some particular occasion when her faithfulness was put to the test.

9. I will make--Greek present, "I make," literally, "I

give" (see on

Re 3:8).

The promise to Philadelphia is larger than that to Smyrna. To Smyrna

the promise was that "the synagogue of Satan" should not prevail

against the faithful in her: to Philadelphia, that she should even win

over some of "the synagogue of Satan" to fall on their faces and

confess God is in her of a truth. Translate, "(some) of the

synagogue." For until Christ shall come, and all Israel then be

saved, there is but "a remnant" being gathered out of the Jews

"according to the election of grace." This is an instance of how Christ

set before her an "open door," some of her greatest adversaries, the

Jews, being brought to the obedience of the faith. Their worshipping

before her feet expresses the convert's willingness to take the

very lowest place in the Church, doing servile honor to those whom once

they persecuted, rather than dwell with the ungodly. So the Philippian

jailer before Paul.

10. patience--"endurance." "The word of My endurance" is My

Gospel word, which teaches patient endurance in expectation

of my coming

(Re 1:9).

My endurance is the endurance which I require, and which I

practice. Christ Himself now endures, patiently waiting until

the usurper be cast out, and all "His enemies be made His footstool."

So, too, His Church, for the joy before her of sharing His coming

kingdom, endures patiently. Hence, in

Re 3:11,

follows, "Behold, I come quickly."

I also--The reward is in kind: "because thou didst keep," &c. "I

also (on My side) will keep thee," &c.

from--Greek, "(so as to deliver thee) out of," not

to exempt from temptation.

the hour of temptation--the appointed season of

affliction and temptation (so in

De 4:34

the plagues are called "the temptations of Egypt"), literally,

"the temptation": the sore temptation which is coming on: the

time of great tribulation before Christ's second coming.

to try them that dwell upon the earth--those who are of earth,

earthy

(Re 8:13).

"Dwell" implies that their home is earth, not heaven. All mankind,

except the elect

(Re 13:8, 14).

The temptation brings out the fidelity of those kept by Christ

and hardens the unbelieving reprobates

(Re 9:20, 21; 16:11, 21).

The particular persecutions which befell Philadelphia shortly after,

were the earnest of the great last tribulation before Christ's coming,

to which the Church's attention in all ages is directed.

11. Behold--omitted by the three oldest manuscripts and most

ancient versions.

I come quickly--the great incentive to persevering faithfulness,

and the consolation under present trials.

that . . . which thou hast--"The word of my patience,"

or "endurance"

(Re 3:10),

which He had just commended them for keeping, and which involved with

it the attaining of the kingdom; this they would lose if they yielded

to the temptation of exchanging consistency and suffering for

compromise and ease.

that no man take thy crown--which otherwise thou wouldst

receive: that no tempter cause thee to lose it: not that the tempter

would thus secure it for himself

(Col 2:18).

12. pillar in the temple--In one sense there shall be "no

temple" in the heavenly city because there shall be no distinction of

things into sacred and secular, for all things and persons shall be

holy to the Lord. The city shall be all one great temple, in which the

saints shall be not merely stones, as m the spiritual temple now

on earth, but all eminent as pillars: immovably firm (unlike

Philadelphia, the city which was so often shaken by earthquakes,

STRABO [12 and 13]), like the colossal pillars

before Solomon's temple, Boaz (that is, "In it is strength") and Jachin

("It shall be established"): only that those pillars were outside,

these shall be within the temple.

my God--(See on

Re 2:7).

go no more out--The Greek is stronger, never more at

all. As the elect angels are beyond the possibility of falling,

being now under (as the Schoolmen say) "the blessed necessity of

goodness," so shall the saints be. The door shall be once for all shut,

as well to shut safely in for ever the elect, as to shut out the lost

(Mt 25:10;

Joh 8:35;

compare

Isa 22:23,

the type, Eliakim). They shall be priests for ever unto God

(Re 1:6).

"Who would not yearn for that city out of which no friend departs, and

into which no enemy enters?" [AUGUSTINE in

TRENCH].

write upon him the name of my God--as belonging to God in a

peculiar sense

(Re 7:3; 9:4; 14:1;

and especially

Re 22:4),

therefore secure. As the name of Jehovah ("Holiness to the Lord") was

on the golden plate on the high priest's forehead

(Ex 28:36-38);

so the saints in their heavenly royal priesthood shall bear His name

openly, as consecrated to Him. Compare the caricature of this in the

brand on the forehead of the beast's followers

(Re 13:16, 17),

and on the harlot

(Re 17:5;

compare

Re 20:4).

name of the city of my God--as one of its citizens

(Re 21:2, 3, 10,

which is briefly alluded to by anticipation here). The full description

of the city forms the appropriate close of the book. The saint's

citizenship is now hidden, but then it shall be manifested: he shall

have the right to enter in through the gates into the city

(Re 22:14).

This was the city which Abraham looked for.

new--Greek, "kaine." Not the old Jerusalem, once

called "the holy city," but having forfeited the name. Greek,

"nea," would express that it had recently come into

existence; but Greek, "kaine," that which is new and

different, superseding the worn-out old Jerusalem and its polity.

"John, in the Gospel, applies to the old city the Greek name

Hierosolyma. But in the Apocalypse, always, to the heavenly city

the Hebrew name, Hierousalem. The Hebrew name is the

original and holier one: the Greek, the recent and more secular

and political one" [BENGEL].

my new name--at present incommunicable and only known to God: to

be hereafter revealed and made the believer's own in union with God in

Christ. Christ's name written on him denotes he shall be wholly

Christ's. New also relates to Christ, who shall assume a new

character (answering to His "new name") entering with His saints on a

kingdom--not that which He had with the Father before the worlds, but

that earned by His humiliation as Son of man.

GIBBON, the infidel [Decline and Fall, ch.

64], gives an unwilling testimony to the fulfilment of the prophecy as

to Philadelphia from a temporal point of view, Among the Greek colonies

and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect,--a column in

a scene of ruins--a pleasing example that the paths of honor and safety

may sometimes be the same."

13. (See on

Re 2:7).

14. Laodiceans--The city was in the southwest of Phrygia, on the

river Lycus, not far from Colosse, and lying between it and

Philadelphia. It was destroyed by an earthquake,

A.D. 62, and rebuilt by its wealthy citizens

without the help of the state [TACITUS,

Annals, 14.27]. This wealth (arising from the excellence of its

wools) led to a self-satisfied, lukewarm state in spiritual things, as

Re 3:17

describes. See on

Col 4:16,

on the Epistle which is thought to have been written to the Laodicean

Church by Paul. The Church in latter times was apparently flourishing;

for one of the councils at which the canon of Scripture was determined

was held in Laodicea in A.D. 361. Hardly a

Christian is now to be found on or near its site.

the Amen--

(Isa 65:16,

Hebrew, "Bless Himself in the God of Amen . . .

swear by the God of Amen,"

2Co 1:20).

He who not only says, but is, the Truth. The saints used

Amen at the end of prayer, or in assenting to the word of God;

but none, save the Son of God, ever said, "Amen, I say unto you," for

it is the language peculiar to God, who avers by Himself. The

New Testament formula, "Amen. I say unto you," is equivalent to the Old

Testament formula, "as I live, saith Jehovah." In John's Gospel

alone He uses (in the Greek) the double "Amen,"

Joh 1:51; 3:3,

&c.; in English Version," Verily, verily." The title happily

harmonizes with the address. His unchanging faithfulness as "the Amen"

contrasts with Laodicea's wavering of purpose, "neither hot nor cold"

(Re 3:16).

The angel of Laodicea has with some probability been conjectured to be

Archippus, to whom, thirty years previously, Paul had already given a

monition, as needing to be stirred up to diligence in his ministry. So

the Apostolic Constitutions, [8.46], name him as the first

bishop of Laodicea: supposed to be the son of Philemon

(Phm 2).

faithful and true witness--As "the Amen" expresses the

unchangeable truth of His promises; so "the faithful the true witness,"

the truth of His revelations as to the heavenly things which He has

seen and testifies. "Faithful," that is, trustworthy

(2Ti 2:11, 13).

"True" is here (Greek, "alethinos") not

truth-speaking (Greek, "alethes"), but "perfectly

realizing all that is comprehended in the name Witness"

(1Ti 6:13).

Three things are necessary for this: (1) to have seen with His own eyes

what He attests; (2) to be competent to relate it for others; (3) to be

willing truthfully to do so. In Christ all these conditions meet

[TRENCH].

beginning of the creation of God--not he whom God created first,

but as in

Col 1:15-18

(see on

Col 1:15-18),

the Beginner of all creation, its originating instrument. All

creation would not be represented adoring Him, if He were but one of

themselves. His being the Creator is a strong guarantee for His

faithfulness as "the Witness and Amen."

15. neither cold--The antithesis to "hot," literally, "boiling"

("fervent,"

Ac 18:25;

Ro 12:11;

compare

So 8:6;

Lu 24:32),

requires that "cold" should here mean more than negatively cold; it is

rather, positively icy cold: having never yet been warmed. The

Laodiceans were in spiritual things cold comparatively, but not

cold as the world outside, and as those who had never belonged

to the Church. The lukewarm state, if it be the transitional stage to a

warmer, is a desirable state (for a little religion, if real, is better

than none); but most fatal when, as here, an abiding condition, for it

is mistaken for a safe state

(Re 3:17).

This accounts for Christ's desiring that they were cold rather

than lukewarm. For then there would not be the same "danger of

mixed motive and disregarded principle" [ALFORD].

Also, there is more hope of the "cold," that is, those who are of the

world, and not yet warmed by the Gospel call; for, when called, they

may become hot and fervent Christians: such did the

once-cold publicans, Zaccheus and Matthew, become. But the

lukewarm has been brought within reach of the holy fire, without

being heated by it into fervor: having religion enough to lull

the conscience in false security, but not religion enough to save the

soul: as Demas,

2Ti 4:10.

Such were the halters between two opinions in Israel

(1Ki 18:21;

compare

2Ki 17:41;

Mt 6:24).

16. neither cold nor hot--So one oldest manuscript, B, and

Vulgate read. But two oldest manuscripts, Syriac, and

Coptic transpose thus, "hot nor cold." It is remarkable that the

Greek adjectives are in the masculine, agreeing with the angel,

not feminine, agreeing with the Church. The Lord addresses the angel as

the embodiment and representative of the Church. The chief minister is

answerable for his flock if he have not faithfully warned the members

of it.

I will--Greek, "I am about to," "I am ready to": I have

it in my mind: implying graciously the possibility of the threat not

being executed, if only they repent at once. His dealings towards them

will depend on theirs towards Him.

spue thee out of my month--reject with righteous loathing, as

Canaan spued out its inhabitants for their abominations. Physicians

used lukewarm water to cause vomiting. Cold and

hot drinks were common at feasts, but never lukewarm.

There were hot and cold springs near Laodicea.

17. Self-sufficiency is the fatal danger of a lukewarm state

(see on

Re 3:15).

thou sayest--virtually and mentally, if not in so many words.

increased with goods--Greek, "have become enriched,"

implying self-praise in self-acquired riches. The Lord alludes to

Ho 12:8.

The riches on which they prided themselves were spiritual riches;

though, doubtless, their spiritual self-sufficiency ("I have need of

nothing") was much fostered by their worldly wealth; as, on the other

hand, poverty of spirit is fostered by poverty in respect

to worldly riches.

knowest not that thou--in particular above all others. The

"THOU" in the Greek is emphatic.

art wretched--Greek, "art the wretched one."

miserable--So one oldest manuscripts reads. But two oldest

manuscripts prefix "the." Translate, "the pitiable"; "the one

especially to be pitied." How different Christ's estimate of men, from

their own estimate of themselves, "I have need of nothing!"

blind--whereas Laodicea boasted of a deeper than common

insight into divine things. They were not absolutely

blind, else eye-salve would have been of no avail to

them; but short-sighted.

18. Gentle and loving irony. Take My advice, thou who

fanciest thyself in need of nothing. Not only art thou not in

need of nothing, but art in need of the commonest necessaries of

existence. He graciously stoops to their modes of thought and speech:

Thou art a people ready to listen to any counsel as to how to

buy to advantage; then, listen to My counsel (for I am

"Counsellor,"

Isa 9:6),

buy of ME" (in whom, according to Paul's

Epistle written to the neighboring Colosse and intended for the

Laodicean Church also,

Col 2:1, 3; 4:16,

are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge). "Buy"

does not imply that we can, by any work or merit of ours,

purchase God's free gift; nay the very purchase money consists

in the renunciation of all self-righteousness, such as Laodicea had

(Re 3:17).

"Buy" at the cost of thine own self-sufficiency (so Paul,

Php 3:7, 8);

and the giving up of all things, however dear to us, that would prevent

our receiving Christ's salvation as a free gift, for

example, self and worldly desires. Compare

Isa 55:1,

"Buy . . . without money and price."

of me--the source of "unsearchable riches"

(Eph 3:8).

Laodicea was a city of extensive money transactions [CICERO].

gold tried in, &c.--literally, "fired (and fresh)

from the fire," that is, just fresh from the furnace

which has proved its purity, and retaining its bright gloss. Sterling

spiritual wealth, as contrasted with its counterfeit, in which Laodicea

boasted itself. Having bought this gold she will be no longer

poor

(Re 3:17).

mayest be rich--Greek, "mayest be enriched."

white raiment--"garments." Laodicea's wools were famous. Christ

offers infinitely whiter raiment. As "gold tried in the fire" expresses

faith tested by fiery trials: so "white raiment," Christ's

righteousness imputed to the believer in justification and imparted

in sanctification.

appear--Greek, "be manifested," namely, at the last day,

when everyone without the wedding garment shall be discovered. To strip

one, is in the East the image of putting to open shame. So also to

clothe one with fine apparel is the image of doing him honor. Man can

discover his shame, God alone can cover it, so that his nakedness shall

not be manifested at last

(Col 3:10-14).

Blessed is he whose sin is so covered. The hypocrite's shame may

be manifested now; it must be so at last.

anoint . . . with eye-salve--The oldest manuscripts

read, "(buy of Me) eye-salve (collyrium, a roll of ointment),

to anoint thine eyes." Christ has for Laodicea an ointment far

more precious than all the costly unguents of the East. The eye

is here the conscience or inner light of the mind. According as it is

sound and "single" (Greek, "haplous," "simple"), or

otherwise, the man sees aright spiritually, or does not. The Holy

Spirit's unction, like the ancient eye-salve's, first smarts with

conviction of sin, then heals. He opens our eyes first to ourselves in

our wretchedness, then to the Saviour in His preciousness. TRENCH notices that the most sunken churches of the

seven, namely, Sardis and Laodicea, are the ones in which alone are

specified no opponents from without, nor heresies from within. The

Church owes much to God's overruling Providence which has made so often

internal and external foes, in spite of themselves, to promote His

cause by calling forth her energies in contending for the faith once

delivered to the saints. Peace is dearly bought at the cost of

spiritual stagnation, where there is not interest enough felt in

religion to contend about it at all.

19.

(Job 5:17;

Pr 3:11, 12;

Heb 12:5, 6.)

So in the case of Manasseh

(2Ch 33:11-13).

As many--All. "He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. And

shalt thou be an exception? If excepted from suffering the scourge,

thou art excepted from the number of the sons"

[AUGUSTINE]. This is an encouragement to Laodicea

not to despair, but to regard the rebuke as a token for good, if she

profit by it.

I love--Greek, "philo," the love of gratuitous

affection, independent of any grounds for esteem in the object

loved. But in the case of Philadelphia

(Re 3:9),

"I have loved thee" (Greek, "egapesa") with the love of

esteem, founded on the judgment. Compare the note in my

English Gnomon of BENGEL,

Joh 21:15-17.

I rebuke--The "I" in the Greek stands first in the

sentence emphatically. I in My dealings, so altogether unlike man's, in

the case of all whom I love, rebuke. The Greek,

"elencho," is the same verb as in

Joh 16:8,

"(the Holy Ghost) will convince (rebuke unto conviction) the

world of sin."

chasten--"chastise." The Greek, "paideu," which in

classical Greek means to instruct, in the New Testament

means to instruct by chastisement

(Heb 12:5, 6).

David was rebuked unto conviction, when he cried, "I have sinned

against the Lord"; the chastening followed when his child was

taken from him

(2Sa 12:13, 14).

In the divine chastening, the sinner at one and the same time

winces under the rod and learns righteousness.

be zealous--habitually. Present tense in the Greek, of a

lifelong course of zeal. The opposite of "lukewarm." The

Greek by alliteration marks this: Laodicea had not been "hot"

(Greek, "zestos"), she is therefore urged to "be zealous"

(Greek, "zeleue"): both are derived from the same verb,

Greek, "zeo," "to boil."

repent--Greek aorist: of an act to be once for all

done, and done at once.

20. stand--waiting in wonderful condescension and

long-suffering.

knock--

(So 5:2).

This is a further manifestation of His loving desire for the sinner's

salvation. He who is Himself "the Door," and who bids us "knock" that

it may be "opened unto" us, is first Himself to knock at the door of

our hearts. If He did not knock first, we should never come to knock at

His door. Compare

So 5:4-6,

which is plainly alluded to here; the Spirit thus in Revelation sealing

the canonicity of that mystical book. The spiritual state of the bride

there, between waking and sleeping, slow to open the door

to her divine lover, answers to that of the lukewarm Laodicea

here. "Love in regard to men emptied (humbled) God; for He does not

remain in His place and call to Himself the servant whom He loved, but

He comes down Himself to seek him, and He who is all-rich arrives at

the lodging of the pauper, and with His own voice intimates His

yearning love, and seeks a similar return, and withdraws not when

disowned, and is not impatient at insult, and when persecuted still

waits at the doors" [NICOLAUS CABASILAS in TRENCH].

my voice--He appeals to the sinner not only with His hand (His

providences) knocking, but with His voice (His word read

or heard; or rather, His Spirit inwardly applying to man's spirit the

lessons to be drawn from His providence and His word). If we refuse to

answer to His knocking at our door now, He will refuse to hear our

knocking at His door hereafter. In respect to His second coming also,

He is even now at the door, and we know not how soon He may

knock: therefore we should always be ready to open to Him

immediately.

if any man hear--for man is not compelled by irresistible force:

Christ knocks, but does not break open the door, though the

violent take heaven by the force of prayer

(Mt 11:12):

whosoever does hear, does so not of himself, but by the drawings

of God's grace

(Joh 6:44):

repentance is Christ's gift

(Ac 5:31).

He draws, not drags. The Sun of righteousness, like the natural

sun, the moment that the door is opened, pours in His light,

which could not previously find an entrance. Compare HILARY on Psalm 118:19.

I will come in to him--as I did to Zaccheus.

sup with him, and he with me--Delightful reciprocity! Compare

"dwelleth in me, and I in Him,"

Joh 6:56.

Whereas, ordinarily, the admitted guest sups with the admitter, here

the divine guest becomes Himself the host, for He is the bread of life,

and the Giver of the marriage feast. Here again He alludes to the

imagery of

So 4:16,

where the Bride invites Him to eat pleasant fruits, even as He

had first prepared a feast for her, "His fruit was sweet to my taste."

Compare the same interchange,

Joh 21:9-13,

the feast being made up of the viands that Jesus brought, and those

which the disciples brought. The consummation of this blessed

intercommunion shall be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, of which

the Lord's Supper is the earnest and foretaste.

21. sit with me in my throne--

(Re 2:26, 27; 20:6;

Mt 19:28; 20:23;

Joh 17:22, 24;

2Ti 2:12).

The same whom Christ had just before threatened to spue out of His

mouth, is now offered a seat with Him on His throne! "The

highest place is within reach of the lowest; the faintest spark of

grace may be fanned into the mightiest flame of love" [TRENCH].

even as I also--Two thrones are here mentioned: (1) His

Father's, upon which He now sits, and has sat since His ascension,

after His victory over death, sin, the world; upon this none can sit

save God, and the God-man Christ Jesus, for it is the incommunicable

prerogative of God alone; (2) the throne which shall be peculiarly

His as the once humbled and then glorified Son of man, to

be set up over the whole earth (heretofore usurped by Satan) at His

coming again; in this the victorious saints shall share

(1Co 6:2).

The transfigured elect Church shall with Christ judge and reign over

the nations in the flesh, and Israel the foremost of them; ministering

blessings to them as angels were the Lord's mediators of blessing and

administrators of His government in setting up His throne in Israel at

Sinai. This privilege of our high calling belongs exclusively to the

present time while Satan reigns, when alone there is scope for conflict

and for victory

(2Ti 2:11, 12).

When Satan shall be bound

(Re 20:4),

there shall be no longer scope for it, for all on earth shall know the

Lord from the least to the greatest. This, the grandest and crowning

promise, is placed at the end of all the seven addresses, to gather all

in one. It also forms the link to the next part of the book, where the

Lamb is introduced seated on His Father's throne

(Re 4:2, 3; 5:5, 6).

The Eastern throne is broad, admitting others besides him who, as

chief, occupies the center. TRENCH notices; The

order of the promises in the seven epistles corresponds to that of the

unfolding of the kingdom of God its first beginnings on earth to its

consummation in heaven. To the faithful at Ephesus: (1) The tree of

life in the Paradise of God is promised

(Re 2:7),

answering to

Ge 2:9.

(2) Sin entered the world and death by sin; but to the faithful at

Smyrna it is promised, they shall not be hurt by the second

death

(Re 2:11).

(3) The promise of the hidden manna

(Re 2:17)

to Pergamos brings us to the Mosaic period, the Church in the

wilderness. (4) That to Thyatira, namely, triumph over the

nations

(Re 2:26, 27),

forms the consummation of the kingdom in prophetic type, the period of

David and Solomon characterized by this power of the nations.

Here there is a division, the seven falling into two groups,

four and three, as often, for example, the Lord's Prayer, three

and four. The scenery of the last three passes from earth to heaven,

the Church contemplated as triumphant, with its steps from glory to

glory. (5) Christ promises to the believer of Sardis not to blot his

name out of the book of life but to confess him before His Father and

the angels at the judgment-day, and clothe him with a glorified body of

dazzling whiteness

(Re 3:4, 5).

(6) To the faithful at Philadelphia Christ promises they shall be

citizens of the new Jerusalem, fixed as immovable pillars there, where

city and temple are one

(Re 3:12);

here not only individual salvation is promised to the believer, as in

the case of Sardis, but also privileges in the blessed communion of the

Church triumphant. (7) Lastly, to the faithful of Laodicea is given the

crowning promise, not only the two former blessings, but a seat with

Christ on His throne, even as He has sat with His Father on His

Father's throne

(Re 3:21).