Revelation 3:22

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 3:22. _HE THAT HATH AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR_] Mr. Wesley has a very judicious note on the conclusion of this chapter, and particularly on this last verse, _He that hath an ear_, c. "This (counsel) stands in _three_ former letters _before_ the promise, in the _four_ latter _after_ it clearly dividing the seven into _two_ _parts_, the first containing _three_, the last _four_ letters. The titles given our Lord in the _three former_ letters peculiarly respect his power after his resurrection and ascension, particularly over his Church; those in the _four latter_, his Divine glory and unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Again, this word being placed _before the promises_ in the _three former letters_ excludes the false apostles at Ephesus, the false Jews at Smyrna, and the partakers with the heathens...

HE THAT HATH AN EAR ... - See the notes on Revelation 2:7. This closes the epistolary part of this book, and the “visions” properly commence with the next chapter. Two remarks may be made in the conclusion of this exposition: (1) The first relates to the truthfulness of the predictions in these epistles. is an illustration of that truthfulness, and of the present correspondence of the condition of those churches with what the Saviour said to John they would be, the following striking passage may be introduced from Mr. Gibbon. It occurs in his description of the conquests of the Turks (“Decline and Fall,” iv. 260, 261). “Two Turkish chieftains, Sarukhan and Aidin left their names to their conquests, and their conquests to their posterity. The captivity or ruin of the seven churches of Asi

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

HE THAT HATH AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR,.... Revelation 2:7....

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)...

THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA...