What is a Laodicean?
Revelation 3: 14-22
It is very important for us to understand what is the
state of things in the church; and when I say "church" I mean the whole house
of God, not the real thing, the body of Christ, but that which will be spued
out of the Lord's mouth when He comes. It is very important for us who are on
the verge of this, if not quite in it, to understand what will produce it.
We may say, thank God, we know we are of the true thing; but still it
is a great thing for us to see what produces and conduces to this state of
things that Christ will thus spue out of His mouth, so that we may not in any
way be helping it on ourselves. In the beginning of Revelation 2 I find the
church has lost her first love, and in the end of chapter 3 He will do without
her as a witness.
In Laodicea the vessel of testimony is spued out of
His mouth. And the terrible thing is that as He thus rejects it, there is
another power ready to pick it up a power that rises and says, This just
suits me! The church unfit for Christ is fit for the beast. As soon as Christ
has done with the church, the beast will arise and say, I will carry it, as we
get it in chapter 17. Now this is a terrible thing a very serious thing,
if we lay it to heart, to see how it is produced; and I think none of us can
escape censure on the point, though we may escape judgment. For it is evident
that Laodicea springs out of Philadelphia; it is evident that the state of the
last of the churches is consequent upon the preceding one. What then is a
Laodicean?
There are four phases of the church of God which run down
to the end; these are Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea: Thyatira
being Romanism; Sardis, the Reformed religion; Philadelphia, the last revival
the most of brilliant unfolding of the truth that had been lost; and
after this, Laodicea, Latitudinarianism. I will explain first what a Laodicean
is, and seek to apply it to our conscience afterwards.
A Laodicean,
then is one who has got Philadelphian light and has not got Philadelphian
power. You see a Laodicean is not in system; he is neither in Romanism nor in
Protestantism, and you must be in either of these two to be in system. I trust
this will come home very closely to every one of us. It is a very important
thing to get light, and light does lead out of system; but light is not
everything.
A Laodicean is one who has got light, but who has not that
which the light should produce. Hence the Lord appears to Laodicea, saying,
"These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of
the creation of God". A Laodicean says what even a rich man would not say: "I
have need of nothing". I would say to any such, You have got the light,
but you have not got Christ in power.
A Rationalist said, "I have got
rid of the author of Christianity, but I have kept the morality of it", and
that is just what the beast might say. What does he wants Christianity for?
He wants Christianity to so improve the man that he may be independent
of God. The Christianity of the present day will issue in Babylon, that great
city where there will be the aggregate of all that suits man upon earth, where
everything that magnifies him will be brought together, where man will get on
without God.
We are not Babylon, and, thank God, never shall be the
harlot; but we are warned that we fall not into the state of things that will
characterize her. I may say here, there are two great structures going on at
this present moment the new Jerusalem and Babylon; the one the bride of
Christ, the magnificent display of all that He is; the other all that naturally
suits man; every natural beauty will be found in it. The one, all of Christ,
when there is nothing of Adam; and the other, where there is nothing of Christ.
Just as the bridegroom forms the bride, so it is here: everything in the new
Jerusalem will suit Christ.
She will come down from heaven, having the
glory of God, to show out the beauty of Christ here upon earth, where we have
all failed. In Babylon, on the other hand, will be found all that gratifies
man. People often say, What is the harm in this or in that? But that is not the
way to put it.
The question, whether it be a bit of furniture or a bit
of dress, is whether it suits Christ or whether it suits man. Is it meeting man
in his natural tastes, or is it meeting Christ in the counsels of God? God
tells us what things are coming to, in order that we should not in any wise
contribute to them. What a sad thing it is to think that the light we have may
only minister to our condemnation!
If you receive the light that comes
out of Philadelphia, and do not have the same time refuse the human element,
you are preparing for Laodicea. Suppose any one says to me, I know I have
received the grace of Christ. I say, That is all very well; but what are you
studying?
Are you trying to improve people's natures trying to
make a man good-tempered or temperate? Then you are working at the old
creation. And you have got light from Christ, the beginning of the creation of
God! It is a fearful thing in the sight of God to have light and not to walk
according to it.
In all the great theological works you will not find
the new creation taught; and yet the authors were true godly men. Why then was
not the church spued out of Christ's mouth long ago? Because they had no light.
Now, when we have light, if it prove ineffectual to produce Christ, we
are nauseous to Him. All through Scripture we find instances to prove what I am
saying. I say, then, a Laodicean has light; but man in nature is his object,
and not Christ.
The first example I find is that of Eve. She had
light, but she did not act up to her light. The word of God told her not to eat
of the tree, and she did. It was a very bad case I admit, but it is a case.
I give up the light in self-consideration; she had the pure light in a
state of innocence; it was perfect light from God Himself; and what a power of
sin was that in her when she said, I will give up the light and please myself.
That was Laodicean in principle; and when the church gets to that
state the Lord says, It does not suit Me. It cannot be of any use. There are
more examples of this in the word that I could possibly think of or put
together now; but one or two will show you how the principle of the evil comes
in. Who was it helped the children of Israel into idolatry? No one less than
Aaron, the brother of Moses. Was there a want of light there? No; he had plenty
on light, but he wanted to please the people. He was the one who was to carry
out the words that Moses gave him from God, and this very man, whilst Moses was
gone up the mountain to God, says: Give me your gold, and I will make a calf
for you. People talk of light, and are boastful of it; but with the knowledge
of that light, I say, take care that you keep out the human element.
If you are ministering to man in any way, no matter how be it in your
house, your furniture, your dress, anything you are just paving the way
for Laodicea, you are helping it on, for you have got light and are not walking
in the practical power of it. It is a point that must be settled practically.
The crisis is coming when people will say: There is plenty of light. They are
trying to improve man by it, and Christ really is unthought of.
Can
you say people are more for Christ now then they used to be? I know that years
ago saints used to be far more for Christ with less light than they are now. I
turn to another case, in 1 Samuel 15. The point to get hold of, and it is a
difficult one if a person does not work it out in his own heart, is that we are
the people who are to blame, because by giving a place to the human element in
our preachings and teachings, we have produced a type of Christianity which is
very human.
In this chapter king Saul is sent to destroy Amalek. There
is no mistake about what he is to do; he is not in the least ignorant; yet he
keeps what suits himself, while he destroys the vile and refuse.
He
could not say he was not able to walk up to the light; but he spared the best,
that which ministered most to man, what most pleased himself. Again, in 2 Kings
5, Gehazi is sent to communicate the truth to Naaman. Gehazi has the truth;
but, when the prophet will not take anything from Naaman, he will.
This is the principle. "Went not mine heart with thee", says the prophet, "when
the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive
money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep, and
oxen, and men servants, and maid servants?" all to suit himself. Then he
adds: "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy
seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow".
That is a Laodicean. He had light, but he considered for himself; he
had not self-control, not self-mortification enough, to keep himself from
coveting things that belong to Naaman. I turn out to the New Testament, to
Matthew 16. Here the Lord says to Peter: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in
heaven".
The greatest light is shown to Peter; nothing could have been
more wonderful than the Father giving such a revelation to him; it was light of
the highest order. He had been given this light about the church. And, would
you believe it, that this very man, in this very same chapter, foreshadows what
a Laodicean is! He has the light about the church, but he will not have the
cross.
Read farther on: "Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him,
saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall from not be unto Thee. But He
turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence
unto Me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of
men".
Thus it is possible that the person who has the greatest light
may make the greatest mistake. Peter wants to spare the man. How differently
the apostle Paul uses the cross! "God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world".
If this be so, what is left of you? Why, the new
creation, and nothing else. That is what is left a new creation, not
only a new creature.The same Person who was going to build this wonderful
structure, the church, is the One who will set aside man in His cross.
Oh, says Peter, I do not like that! Then, says the Lord, you are Satan. That is
exactly the principle of the thing, and this is where we have to judge
ourselves. The light is here, and the question is whether I am bringing out
that upon earth which will shine out in the new Jerusalem. It was thus that the
Lord left His disciples here. He could say of them: "All mine are Thine, and
Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them".
Truly we have failed in
this; but He turns round in the book of Revelation and says: You are the Bride
to Me, though you have failed in everything else. I make only one more remark.
The apostle says in 2 Timothy 1: "All they which are in Asia be turned away
from me".
It was not that they had turned away from Christianity, but
that they would not have Paul's teaching; they would not have Christ instead of
the man here.
And when you leave Christ out of Christianity it is
Laodicean, and sinks into Babylon; when you leave Christ out of Christianity
Christ does not want the church. I would warn you to see to it, that the more
light you have, the more you exclude the human element.
People have
gone on for 1800 years, knowing but little and with but little light; and till
the light came, the Lord, as it were, says, I tolerate it all.
But now
all is changed. We can no more speak of the ignorance: the light has been given
us. If the light increase, be careful to see that the light produces Christ in
you practically. And now, having shown you what a Laodicean is, I will show you
the remedy for it, how the Lord can keep you from being one, and how He can
deliver you if you now are one.
He says, "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".
It is not any particular truth
He brings in; He brings in Himself. He says: I will make you know Me in the
intimacies of daily life; I will come and sup with you and then you shall learn
what it is to sup with Me. I will throw Myself into all your circumstances, and
then you will come to Mine. We get the practical illustration of it in John 11
and 12.
First, the Lord walks beside Mary to the grave of Lazarus, and
weeps with her there. And then she says, anointing Him for His burial: This
world, with all its beauty, is nothing to me! He is gone out of it, and I have
buried it all with Him in His grave. The day we live in is a critical one. I am
sure it ought to be a solemn thought that we are a corrupting instead of a
sanctifying people, when we propound light without promoting and manifesting
Christ, the new creation. The Lord lead our hearts to understand how we may
thus only injure souls instead of being a blessing to them.
The
apostle tells us in Timothy that unless we have conscience about what we
believe, we shall make shipwreck. May we take the subject to heart for His
name's sake!
J. B. S.