Revelation 3:17

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: A lukewarm state generates fatal self-sufficiency (note, Revelation 3:15). THOU SAYEST - mentally, if not in words. INCREASED WITH GOODS, [ peplouteeka (G4147)] - 'have become enriched:' self-praise in self-acquired riches. Alluding to Hosea 12:8. The riches on which they prided themselves were spiritual; their spiritual self-sufficiency ("I have need of nothing") was fostered by worldly wealth, as poverty of spirit is fostered by poverty in worldly riche...

14-22 Laodicea was the last and worst of the seven churches of Asia. Here our Lord Jesus styles himself, "The Amen;" one steady and unchangeable in all his purposes and promises. If religion is worth anything, it is worth every thing. Christ expects men should be in earnest. How many professors of gospel doctrine are neither hot nor cold; except as they are indifferent in needful matters, and hot and fiery in disputes about things of lesser moment! A severe punishment is threatened. They would give a false opinion of Christianity, as if it were an unholy religion; while others would conclude it could afford no real satisfaction, otherwise its professors would not have been heartless in it, or so ready to seek pleasure or happiness from the world. One cause of this indifference and inconsistency in religion is, self-conceit and self-delusion; "Because thou sayest." What a difference betw...

Verse Revelation 3:17. _I AM RICH_] Thou supposest thyself to be in a safe state, perfectly sure of final salvation, because thou hast begun well, and laid the right foundation. It was this most deceitful conviction that cut the nerves of their spiritual diligence; they rested in what they had already received, and seemed to think that _once in grace_ must be _still in grace_. _THOU ART WRETCHED_] ταλαιπωρος _Most wretched_. "The word signifies," according to Mintert, "being worn out and fatigued with grievous labours, as they who labour in a _stone quarry_, or are condemned to the _mines_." So, instead of being children of God, as they supposed, and infallible heirs of the kingdom, they were, in the sight of God, in the condition of the most abject _slaves_. _AND MISERABLE_] ο ελεεινος Most de

BECAUSE THOU SAYEST, I AM RICH - So far as the language here is concerned, this may refer either to riches literally, or to spiritual riches; that is, to a boast of having religion enough. Prof. Stuart supposes that it refers to the former, and so do Wetstein, Vitringa, and others. Doddridge, Rosenmuller, and others, understand it in the latter sense. There is no doubt that there was much wealth in Laodicea, and that, as a people, they prided themselves on their riches. See the authorities in Wetstein on Colossians 2:1, and Vitringa, p. 160. It is not easy to determine which is the true sense; but may it not have been that there was an allusion to both, and that, in every respect, they boasted that they had enough? May it not have been so much the characteristic of that people to boast of their wealth, that they carried the spirit into everything, and manifest

EXPOSITION REVELATION 3:1 _The epistle to the Church at Sardis. _This Church is one of the two which receives unmixed reproof. Smyrna and Philadelphia receive no blame; Sardis and Laodicea receive no praise. Sardis lies almost due south of Thyatira, on the road to Philadelphia, between the river Hermus and Mount Tmolus. It had been in turn Lydian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, and, like its last Lydian king, Croesus, had been celebrated for its wealth. The auriferous stream Pactolus, in summer almost dry, flowed through its marketplace; but its chief source of wealth was its trade. In A.D. 17 "twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night … The calamity fell most heavily on the people of Sardis, and it attracted to them the largest share of sympathy. The emperor [Tiberius] promised ten million sesterces (£85,000), and remitted

BECAUSE THOU SAYEST, I AM RICH,.... In worldly goods, which occasioned her lukewarmness, as riches often do, and her vanity, pride, and arrogance, afterwards expressed. Laodicea was a very rich city, and so will be this church state, through the accession of kings and princes, and great men of the earth unto it, in the former period: riches seldom do any good to the churches of Christ, they did not in Constantine's time; and it seems that even at the close of the spiritual reign of Christ they will be of bad consequence, since they will usher in the Laodicean church state: or her meaning is, that she was rich in spiritual things; not in grace, but in external gifts, which still remained, upon the very great pouring forth of the Spirit in the last church state; and in good works, on which she too much trusted for salvation, placing her righteousness in them: she is one whom the Jews c cal...

CHAPTER 3 Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea _ 1. Sardis: The reformation period (Revelation 3:1)_ 2. Philadelphia: The faithful remnant (Revelation 3:7) 3. Laodicea: The indifferent and apostate Church (Revelation 3:14) Revelation 3:1 . We have traced briefly the decline during the 1450-1500 years of Church history. The climax is reached in Thyatira, prophetically the Roman abomination and apostasy. In Sardis we see the progress of evil stayed. Roman Catholicism, as already mentioned, is a fixed and unchanging religious system. Rome will yet have for a brief season a startling rev

REVELATION 2:1 TO REVELATION 3:22. THE LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. These letters are addressed to individual churches, but their messages are intended for the Church as a whole. In every letter there occurs the phrase, He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches....

_LAODICEA_ IS LAST NAMED. THE CITY WAS SITUATED ABOUT TWENTY MILES FROM EPHESUS, AND NEAR COLOSSE. THE CHURCH WAS HONORED WITH AN EPISTLE FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL. SEE COLOSSIANS 4:17. STILL, IT HAD FALLEN INTO THE BESETTING SIN OF CHURCHES AND HAD BECOME _LUKEWARM._ THIS SIN IS REBUKED IN THE SEVEREST LANGUAGE, AND THE CONSEQUENCES ARE INDICATED BY. MOST VIGOROUS FIGURE. THE ANCIENT CITY AND CHURCH HAVE PASSED AWAY, AND THE RUINS ARE ENTIRELY DESERTED. IT HAS BEEN _SPEWED OUT OF THE MOUTH_ OF THE LORD. THE SEVEN CHURCHES.--At the time when John wrote there were hundreds of churches in existence. On the Asiatic Continent many had been founded in Judea, Syria, and elsewhere, and in the district of which Ephesus was the commercial metropolis, and which was especially designated as _Asia,_ we know that in the last quarter of the first century there were not on

THE LETTER TO SARDIS (Revelation 3:1-6)...