@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 by us"
[AUGUSTINE].
Twice Christ in the days of 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 1:2).
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).