Revelation 3:14-22 - Indepthbible.org

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The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches! 504 501 (...continued) throne of Christ...The picture of Christ sharing His throne surpasses all other symbols of the Christian hope." (P. 399) Again, he comments, "It is a far call from castaway people, unfit for the banquet of God, to triumphant sharers of the throne of Christ. But these are the exact alternatives." (P. 561) 502 The change in tense is instructive. The followers of Jesus, the church members in Asia, are those who "are conquering." They are in the midst of the struggle, and the outcome is not yet clear. But the risen Lord "has conquered"--here, the verb is in the "aorist" or "past" tense. He has won the victory through His death and resurrection; He has been crowned King of kings and Lord of lords, and His on-going "battle" is simply one of "mopping up" His defeated foes! 503 This refers to the divine "coronation" of the resurrected Jesus, at the "right hand of the Father." In chapters 4 and 5 John will give us a picture of the heavenly throne of the universe, on which God the Father sits (chapter 4), and then will picture the "Little Lamb" Who sits on that same throne (in chapter 5). But that sitting enthroned at the right hand of God does not at all mean separation from the people of God. It means divine omnipresence. The One Who sits on the throne of God is also the One Who is walking in the midst of the golden lampstands, and Who knows exactly what is going on in each of them (the churches)! As Aune notes, “This is an allusion to Psalm 110:1, one of the most important Old Testament messianic texts in the early church.” (Pp. 262-63) 504 Verse 22 is repeated seven times in Revelation--at 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13 and 22 (here). A very similar phrase occurs at Revelation 13:9, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear!" See our footnotes on 2:7,11, 17; 29; 3:6, and 13. This sentence points out three facts: (1) the need for spiritual discernment, or "hearing"; (2) the fact that the Spirit of God is speaking a present message through the words of the risen Lord; and (3) the fact that all of the churches are being addressed in the word directed to one church. Hough comments, “The church at Laodicea, with its internal poverty and its external pretense, its combination of arrogant complacency with intellectual, moral, and spiritual destitution, seems strangely contemporary to the modern reader. We too know all too well the tragedy of having the form without the essence, of combining glittering externality with inner impotence. Too many of us are incapable of moral and spiritual enthusiasm. And we are incapable of that shuddering sense of cold which comes with the authentic awareness that the fires of life are going out. Too many of us live in a middle country, incapable either of great hopes or of great despair. If such as we have been prepared for the festive board of God, he (continued...) 245
504 (...continued) can look at us only with supreme distaste. The incapacity for decisive experience is the characteristic of a decadent age and of a decadent church.” (P. 561) Hough is right--but we must emphasize that still the risen Lord sees hope for a decadent church! On p. 81, Gregg gives an outline of the different ways in which the letters to the seven churches are interpreted: “In the view of the historicists, the letters contain a cryptic [‘secret,’ ‘hidden’] reference to the condition in which the whole church would be found at varying times in her history. The church at Ephesus represents the church in John’s own day, while the church in Laodicea stands for the church at the end times. [And the other churches represent different periods in history between John’s own day and the end times.] “The preterists consider the letters to apply to little else than the contemporary situation of the seven churches as they existed in John’s time. As with all biblical epistles, however, application to similar churches of any time is acknowledged. “Futurists may side with the historicists or, alternatively, with the preterists and the spiritual interpreters as to the application of the letters, though they see the reference to the ‘things which shall take place after this’ (1:19) as referring to the end of the present age. “Spiritual interpreters see the purpose of the book as communicating to the whole church the facts of God’s sovereignty in history and His vindication of the righteous. The seven churches symbolize the church of all times, and the letters apply to any churches in which the relevant circumstances prevail.” What power and instruction there is in these seven small letters addressed by the risen Lord to seven of His congregations at the close of the first century in Roman Asia! An attentive hearing of the divine message contained in these seven letters, combined with obedience to their directives, could well result in a complete renewal of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) or any other of the so-called “Main-Line Denominations” at the beginning of the twenty-first century! As Hough states, "...The messages to the seven churches...are of ecumenical range and of ecumenical significance. They belong to every age. They belong to every place. They belong to the Christian church always and everywhere. No Christian can read them without finding words which speak directly to his own mind and heart." (P. 561) 246
Page 1 and 2: THE LETTER OF THE RISEN LORD TO THE
Page 3 and 4: 446 447 448 449 450 says the Amen,
Page 5 and 6: 451 452 453 454 455 the creation of
Page 7 and 8: 459 460 461 462 463 464 neither hot
Page 9 and 10: 465 466 467 you are saying that "I
Page 11 and 12: 472 (...continued) riches that have
Page 13 and 14: 480 481 may be dressed, and so that
Page 15 and 16: and turn around! 491 492 493 3.20 L
Page 17: 500 3.21 The one who is conquering,

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