REVELATIONLESSON 103:14-22

A LETTER FROM JESUS TO THE CHURCH AT LAODICEA

LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES: SCOPE

LITERAL CHURCHES OF JOHN’S DAY

PRESCRIPTIVE OF CHURCHES THROUGHOUT THE CHURCH AGE

PREDICTIVE OF DIFFERENT PERIODS OF CHURCH HISTORY

APPLICABLE TO ANY CHRISTIAN WHO HAS “EARS TO HEAR”

REVIEW: THE SEVEN CHURCHES

EPHESUS: PURE IN DOCTRINE, LACKING IN LOVE SMYRNA: PERSECUTED, BUT FAITHFUL UNTO

DEATH PERGAMOS: THE CHURCH WED TO THE WORLD THYATIRA: THE CHURCH THAT ADOPTED

PAGANISM SARDIS: THE DEAD CHURCH PHILADELPHIA: THE MISSIONARY CHURCH TONIGHT—LAODICEA: THE WORLDLY CHURCH

LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES: GEOGRAPHY

LAODICEA

LOCATED IN THE LYCUS RIVER VALLEY, TEN OR SO MILES WEST OF COLOSSE

SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY

“THIS LETTER, ALONE AMONG THE SEVEN, SEEMS NOT TO BRING THE CHARACTER OF THE CHURCH INTO CLOSE RELATION TO THE GREAT NATURAL FEATURES AMID WHICH THE CITY STOOD; BUT ON THE OTHER HAND IT SHOWS A VERY INTIMATE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CHARACTER ATTRIBUTED TO THE CHURCH AND THE COMMERCE BY WHICH THE CITY HAD GROWN GREAT.”

ARCHEOLOGY AT LAODICEA

LAODICEA BOASTED THREE THEATERS AND A LARGE STADIUM AMONG ITS ENTERTAINMENT ESTABLISHMENTS

LAODICEA: ARCHEOLOGY

RUINS OF THE NYMPHAEUM, PART OF THE “WATER WORKS” THAT BROUGHT WATER TO THE CITY FROM HOT SPRINGS LOCATED ABOUT FIVE MILES SOUTH OF

TOWN

LAODICEA: ARCHEOLOGY

WATER WAS PIPED IN THROUGH AN AQUEDUCT FROM A HOT SPRING FIVE MILES SOUTH OF TOWN. CALCIUM

DEPOSITS LINED THE AQUEDUCT AND HAD TO BE CLEANED OUT PERIODICALLY.

LAODICEA: ARCHEOLOGY

RUINS OF THE ANCIENT STADUIM

LAODICEA: ARCHEOLOGY

RUINS OF THE “EPHESIAN GATE,” AN ENTRANCE TO THE CITY

LETTER TO LAODICEA: HISTORY

LAODICEA WAS NAMED AFTER LAODICE, WIFE OF ANTIOCHUS II

THE CITY DATES BACK TO ABOUT 2000 B.C. IT WAS FORMERLY A PART OF THE KINGDOM OF

PERGAMOS AND LATER UNDER ROMAN RULE A LARGE JEWISH POPULATION WAS PRESENT IN

THE CITY IT WAS A WEALTHY CITY OF BANKERS,

MERCHANTS, GOLD REFINERS, AND TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS

LETTER TO LAODICEA: HISTORY THE TRADING ROUTE UPON WHICH IT WAS

LOCATED RAN FROM EPHESUS IN THE EAST TO THE YELLOW RIVER IN PUNJAB BY THE CHINA SEA

LAODICEA WAS FAMOUS FOR ITS SPECIAL BLACK WOOL—A BREED OF SHEEP NOW LOST TO ANTIQUITY

A SCHOOL OF MEDICINE WAS LOCATED THERE LAODICEA WAS THE CENTER OF THE

MANUFACTURE OF WHAT ARISTOTLE CALLED PHRYGIAN POWDER—COLLYRIUM POWDER WHEN MIXED WITH OIL THAT WAS USED AS EYE SALVE

THE CITY WAS DESTROYED BY EARTHQUAKE IN 62 A.D. AND REBUILT WITHOUT THE HELP OF ROME

BIBLICAL BACKGROUND PAUL HAD A DEEP CONCERN FOR THE BELIEVERS AT

BOTH LAODICEA AND COLOSSE—THE TOWNS BEING ABOUT TEN MILES APART—THOUGH HE MAY HAVE NEVER BEEN THERE ACTS 19:10; COL. 2:1

THE CHURCH MAY HAVE BEEN STARTED BY EPAPHRAS, AS HE FOUNDED THE CHURCH IN NEARBY COLOSSE (COL. 1:6,7). CERTAINLY HE MINISTERED THERE COL. 4:12,13

SOME BELIEVE ARCHIPPUS, PHILEMON’S SON, WAS THE PASTOR AT LAODICEA COL. 4:17

PAUL’S EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS WAS TO BE EXCHANGED WITH THE LAODICEANS FOR THE EPISTLE PAUL HAD WRITTEN TO THEM (NOW LOST) COL. 4:16. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS LAODICEAN EPISTLE WAS ACTUALLY THE CIRCULAR EPISTLE TO THE EHPESIANS—THUS THE APOSTLE WAS INSTRUCTING THE LAODICEANS TO PASS IT ON.

LETTER TO LAODICEA: CONTENT 3:14-22

NAME OF THE CHURCH: LAODICEA—THE RULE OF THE PEOPLE 3:14

TITLE OF CHRIST: AMEN, FAITHFUL, TRUE WITNESS, BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD V. 14 (COL. 1:15-18)

COMMENDATION: NONE CONCERN: NEITHER COLD NOR HOT V.15,16

LUKEWARMNESS IDENTIFIED 3:17

PRIDEFUL BOASTING “BECAUSE THOU SAYEST…” PREOCCUPATION WITH MONEY “RICH” PREOCCUPATION WITH THINGS “AND INCREASED WITH

GOODS” SINFUL SELF-RELIANCE “AND HAVE NEED OF NOTHING” SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS “AND KNOWEST NOT” SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION “WRETCHED, AND MISERABLE, AND

POOR, AND BLIND, AND NAKED”—ALL THE HEALTH, WEALTH, AND POSSESSIONS OF LAODICEA ARE IN VIEW HERE

LETTER TO LAODICEA: CONTENT CONTINUED

INSTRUCTIONS: INVEST IN PURIFIED GOLD, WHITE RAIMENT, EYESALVE NOTE: OUR LORD REBUKES AND CHASTENS THESE BELIEVERS THAT THEY MIGHT REPENT. V. 18,19

JESUS HAD TO STAND OUTSIDE AND KNOCK. APPARENTLY, THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR HIM INSIDE AND HE WAS TRYING TO GET THEIR ATTENTION. V.20

LETTER TO LAODICEA: CONTENT CONTINUED

PROMISE: “SIT WITH ME IN MY THRONE”—A KINGDOM PROMISE CONCERNING THE THRONE OF DAVID (NOTICE WHERE CHRIST IS NOW SEATED) V.21

“HE THAT HATH AN EAR…” V.22

IT IS OFTEN MOST DIFFICULT TO HEAR WHEN OUR IDENTITY IS AT ISSUE

PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE

THE CHURCH AT LAODICEA REPRESENTS THE CHURCH OF THE “LAST DAYS.” IT IS A CHURCH OF WEALTH, EASE, AND ACCOMMODATION. IT IS MORE CONCERNED WITH “MARKETING” THAN IT IS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. THIS “USER FRIENDLY CHURCH” HAS ALL THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF SUCCESS, BUT IS SPIRITUALLY BANKRUPT. THYATIRA, SARDIS, PHILADELPHIA, AND LAODICEA ALL INCLUDE MENTION OF CHRIST’S SECOND COMING AND THE POST SCRIPT AT THE END OF THE LETTER. THIS MAY INDICATE THAT CHURCHES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE LAST FOUR WILL BE PROMINENT JUST PRIOR TO THE RAPTURE.

RETHINKING THE MEGA CHURCH“SOME OF THE STUFF THAT WE HAVE PUT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO THINKING IT WOULD REALLY HELP OUR PEOPLE GROW AND DEVELOP SPIRITUALLY, WHEN THE DATA CAME BACK, IT WASN’T HELPING PEOPLE THAT MUCH…SPIRITUAL GROWTH DOESN’T HAPPEN BY BECOMING SPIRITUALLY DEPENDENT ON ELABORATE CHURCH PROGRAMS BUT THROUGH THE AGE-OLD SPIRITUAL PRACTICES OF PRAYER, BIBLE READING, AND RELATIONSHIPS. AND, IRONICALLY, THESE BASIC DISCIPLINES DO NOT REQUIRE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FACILITIES AND HUNDREDS OF STAFF TO MANAGE.”

BILL HYBLES

PASTOR OF WILLOW CREEK

NEXT LESSON: A VISION FROM HEAVENCH. 4:1-6

THE THRONE OF GOD