The Presentation of Christ to Laodicea

Revelation 3: 14-22

The address to the assembly in Laodicea presents the last phase in the history of the professing Church on earth. That this phase has been reached is made very manifest by the rise in recent years of a religious infidel movement passing under the name of Modernism, etc., marked by characteristics that exactly correspond to those so graphically depicted in this address. The great importance of the address to Laodicea is that therein we have a definite unfolding of the Lord's mind in regard to this last phase of Christendom, the attitude He takes toward it and the truth He would bring before it. The believer is thus warned against the condition which the Lord so severely condemns, and at the same time instructed how it is to be met.

It is noticeable that in the assembly in Philadelphia, the Lord has nothing to condemn, whereas, in the assembly in Laodicea there is nothing that He can approve. The earnest desire of every true-hearted saint in these last days must be to answer to the condition that the Lord approves and to escape the condition that He condemns. It is however well to remember, that in ourselves there is no power for Philadelphian recovery or for escape from the Laodicean condition. The power, whether for recovery or escape, is in Christ. The appreciation of Christ as presented in Philadelphia is the power for recovery, just as the appreciation of Christ as presented in Laodicea is the way of escape.

First then we have:

The Lord's Presentation of Himself to Laodicea

Christ presents Himself in a threefold way as "the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." It is noticeable in the address to Philadelphia, the Lord does not present Himself in His official character in connection with the Church, but rather in His moral glories. It is still more noticeable that in Laodicea, so low is their state, that the Lord does not present Himself in an aspect that properly belongs to the Church at all, but in an aspect that gives a very beautiful and complete presentation of Christ in connection with the present creation.

First, Christ is "the Amen." God has made exceedingly great and precious promises in connection with the present creation, and these promises will all have their fulfilment in Christ. That this is the meaning of the title Amen is clearly shown by 2 Corinthians 1: 20. Speaking of the promises of God, the Apostle writes that "whatever promises of God there are, in Christ is the Yea, and in Christ the Amen" (JND). If God makes promises He will surely fulfil them. His promises are marked by certainty (Yea), and fulfilment (Amen). It is, however, Christ who secures certainty and fulfilment. He is the "Yea" and He is "the Amen." The promises are fulfilled in Him and by Him. But if every promise of blessing for the "world to come"* is fulfilled by Christ, then everything in the world to come* will be for the glory and exaltation of Christ. Alas, the Laodiceans exclude Christ and use the present scene for the exaltation of themselves. They stand condemned by Christ as the Amen.

{*i e., the Millennium, the thousand years' reign of Christ.}

Second, Christ is "the faithful and true Witness." This creation is the sphere in which man has been placed in responsibility to witness for God. Adam, Noah, Israel, the Gentiles and the Church have at different seasons and in various ways, been set in responsibility to witness for God. Sadly, all have failed both in faithfulness to God and in witness before men. Adam disobeyed; Noah could not govern himself; Israel turned to idols and apostatized from Jehovah; the Gentiles abused the government committed to them; and the Church, leaving her first love, proved unfaithful to Christ and hence, lost her place of witness before men — the candlestick is removed. The last and most terrible stage of the Church's failure is reached in Laodicea; a Church that, instead of faithfulness, is marked by indifference to Christ, and in place of witnessing to Christ actually bears witness to herself. This terrible condition is rebuked by the presentation of Christ as the One who passed through this world as "the faithful and true Witness." He alone was faithful to God and a true witness of God before man.

Third, Christ is "the beginning of the creation of God." He is not only the Amen, the One in whom every promise for this creation will be fulfilled, but He is also the beginning. He is the beginning as source inasmuch as the whole creation is derived from Him. He is also the beginning as the object of creation inasmuch as from the outset of creation, God had Christ in view. "All things were created by Him and for Him." If everything derived from Him, it must be in order that everything should be for His glory. If He begins all and is the Object of all, it is that He may fill all. Thus, every thought of God for this present creation centres in Christ. He is the beginning. He is the Amen and He is the faithful and true Witness. In the light of this presentation of Christ, the Laodiceans stand utterly condemned. The One who is "everything and in all" in God's thoughts, is outside the "church" of the Laodiceans. They are indifferent to the claims of Christ and filled with their own importance.

Had the Laodiceans received the truth concerning Christ as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God, they never would have put Christ outside the door. They would have realized that they had everything in Christ and nothing without Him. Had they given heed to the epistle to the Colossians, which was to be read "in the church of the Laodiceans" (Col. 4: 16), it would have saved them, as indeed it would save religious professors today, from making everything of man and nothing of Christ. There they would have learned the glories of Christ in connections with all created things, and that Christ "is everything and in all." There, too, they would have learned that to give man in the flesh a place means the setting aside of Christ. To give heed to man's enticing words beguiles from the steadfastness of faith in Christ (Col. 2: 4-5). To be led away by the philosophy of men is to follow that which is "not after Christ" (Col. 2: 8). To pursue legal observances is to follow the shadow and lose the substance, which is Christ (Col. 2: 16-17). By being beguiled into superstition — intruding into things not seen — men are puffed up and cease to hold the Head, even Christ (Col. 2: 18-19).

The Laodiceans had given no heed to the truth ministered through Paul in the epistle to the Colossians and hence came under the rebuke of the Lord ministered through John in the Revelation. The enticing words of men, philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men, had prevailed with the result that, in their sight, man was everything and Christ of no account. Their terrible condition is brought before us. The Lord's presentation of Himself is followed by:

The Lord's Exposure of the Laodiceans

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