Revelation 3:17-22

Revelation 3:17-22

Vs 17 – “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”

· The Lord has just issued out a saddening remark about this church in verse 16, their lukewarmness in their relationship with Christ, has disgusted Jesus so bad, that he informs them that he spues them out of his mouth.

· Their catalyst for becoming like this, is the same thing that causes so many to struggle in their relationship with Christ. It is money.

· Their trust was not fully in Christ, in reality, they were self-confident in their own resources, money being one of the main ones.

· We remember, from our introduction of Laodicea, that this was a wealthy region, a banking center and medical community. It was filled with a lot of successful business people. Today, this would probably would be like the business district of New York, or the surrounding areas around major hospitals.

· The Laodiceans were so wealthy, that when their city was destroyed, that they paid for the rebuild out of their own pockets.

· Now, there is nothing that says it’s a sin, for a person to be successful in life. That an individual make a good living here on earth. But it does become a sin when that success and that wealth, takes away from our relationship with the Lord.

· This is the case here, their self-sufficiency and reliance on wealth, was brought into the house of God and they weren’t real concern with trusting in the Lord like they should.

· Isn’t this the way many are today? That when there is money in the bank, that business is going good, that a person becomes lazy in their walk. They aren’t hurting for things, so they reason that their walk with the Lord is good enough. They begin to plateau, and become comfortable with where they are at.

· However, you let a man suffer, lack, or be afflicted and they will turn to God. It’s a hard prayer to pray, that God allow these who are like the Laodiceans be faced with something that takes their eyes off their money and back to God. It might mean an economic downturn, or a pandemic; but it is a message from God, that we need to turn back to him.

· Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

· Verse 17 makes mention that they have need of nothing. When the city was rebuilt, there was an inscription that was inscribed on many of the buildings, the translation is “out of our own resources”

· Man may make wonderful structures, and have an abundance of money, but we should never become so high-minded that we think God is not important. He should be the focus of our life.

· Deuteronomy 8:11-15 “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12 lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13 and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14 then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;”

· Now here is the sad problem, these people hadn’t even seen their own condition. In their eyes, they thought that they were living their life pleasing unto God, but in reality, they were just pleasing themselves. It is sad, when we become blind to sin. When we become blind to how deteriorated our walk with the Lord has become. We should take the time to pray to God that he reveals to us like he did with the Laodiceans, our faults and failures. That we not think so haughty of ourselves, and fool ourselves into believing that we are okay.

· The Lord tells them, you think your well off, that you don’t need anything, you’re walking around and foolishly, your spiritual condition is nothing more that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. They could only see the physical world, but when the Lord looked at them, he saw the spiritual side, and this is how they looked. It was awful!

Verse 18 – “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich: and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.”

· The Lord then prescribes to this congregation what they should do. They should buy from the Lord. Now don’t misinterpret what the Lord is saying. You cannot buy your way into heaven with money, goods, or works. What the Lord is saying to these people, if you want gold, if you want the white raiment, if you want to see, then come to me and give me your life.

· The things of this world do not compare to the things of the Lord, it does not compare to the riches in Heaven. So many do not think about the eternal, because they are so focused on the hear and now, that they are literally blinded to the fact, that this is temporary.

· The Lord’s charge to this people, is to come to the Lord as he offers salvation freely, because he has already purchased it with his life. He is willing to give to us all these wonderful things, but it will cost us something as well.

· Mark 8:36 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

· Luke 9:23 “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

· Friend, don’t let the pleasures of this world deny you the relationship you ought to have with Jesus Christ.

Verse 19 – “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

· Now we might have thought that the Lord was being unnecessarily hard on this congregation, but he loves them and he speaks to them with the bluntness to make them understand the need for repentance.

· We may not always enjoy what the Lord has to say to us, in fact, if the Lord was speaking to us like I am to you, he might have something even harder to say to us. But just like a parent who loves their child, the Lord looks at our life and he rebukes us. Not because he hates us, but because he loves us!

· We have heard the expression, this is going to hurt me than it will you. Well friend, it did hurt Christ more than it did us. He gave up his life for the church, and now for a church to be so unconcern and worldly?! This needed to be addressed because Jesus had a deep love for even these who had drifted into this complacent state.

· He tells them to be zealous. This is to say to have great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of Christ and your relationship with him.

· In just a few days, it will be Valentines day. You may try to spark your relationship with your spouse, by doing something special or giving them a special gift. If you don’t do anything, the romance fades and the relationship becomes blah. Well, its time to show the Lord you love him! Its time to make an effort and have some excitement, and fan the fire on our relationship with Christ!

· How do we start it? It is easy, we start by repenting and turning back to the Lord like we should!

· Listen, many of us have had the same condition of the Laodiceans in our own life, and Jesus is saying repent! He has been patient with us and the time is now!

· 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Verse 20 – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

· As we come into verse 20, Jesus shares with this congregation that he standing at the door and knocking.

· The irony of the Lord saying this is the fact that he standing outside of the church and desiring to come in. Here was a congregation that claimed to be a church, but Jesus wasn’t even there. They had filled the pews with praise for themselves, they were content with complacent messages, they had satisfied in their minds that they were okay, and the whole time, Jesus is not even there.

· Now this verse is also more pointed than just for the Laodiceans, in fact, this is a verse that the Lord asks all of man. The Lord is knocking on the door, and even in this verse, the opening is in the present tense, meaning, that the Lord is knocking on people’s doors, desiring to come in and dwell with them.

· We may not think as a believer, that Christ can be put outside of our heart. But this is the case for many, we have moved Jesus out of our life, and he is knocking to come back into our life. To have fellowship with us.

· Has Jesus been locked out of your heart? Is he knocking to come back in? Is he knocking on your heart and you have never let him in? Its okay to open the door, he is not here to harm, but to help you.

Verse 21 – “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

· Jesus’ address to the church of Laodiceans, is followed up with a statement to all believers. His addressment was specific but now broadens to all believers, he wants you to sit with him.

· Where is Jesus right now? He sits at the right hand of the Father. Making intercession for us. Jesus has not taken his throne as of yet. We know that through the Davidic covenant, that a descendent of David would sit on the throne of David forever. Now the throne of David, is not the throne of God the Father. Jesus though, will take his place on the throne of David and rule over Israel in the Millennial Reign. And once the 1000 year reign if over, the kingdom and throne will be established in the New Jerusalem.

· Now to be a part of this kingdom, means you have to be a believer, a follower of Christ, one that Christ has overcome sin in their life.

· Jesus is at the right hand of the father, and soon this will all change when the Lord comes and calls his church away.

· We must remember, that the church is not the kingdom that the Lord refers to in the scripture, we instead are the bride of Christ. We have not taken the place of Israel. There will be a literal fulfillment of Christ ruling over Israel and throughout the world.

Verse 22 – “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

· The seventh invitation, the perfect invitation, an invitation to listen and not disregard, Jesus is in charge of the church and the lifting words, and condemning words, are words to bring about repentance and commitment unto the Lord.

· Oh, if we would just listen to what Jesus is saying and not think ourselves above what has been proclaimed to these seven churches. This is not history, this is now. We are these churches, and we must listen and apply what has been shared by Jesus.

· This is the last mention of the church in Revelation until Revelation 22, it is at this point that this indicates that what proceeds in this book, the church is not a part of. It serves as a warning of what is to come, and a joy of what comes hereafter.

· All that is said, is meant to be taught in the church, not necessarily to scare us, but to make us realize the fallen state the world is in. The Lord wants us to be prepared, and the best way we can be prepared is to get right with the Lord now, for when this time comes after the church, it will be to late.

· Now, this is important to note, that we believe in a pretribulation rapture, meaning that we do not endure what happens during the seven year tribulation, but it is not derived from what we see here in this section, but from other passages from the Bible.