In 2 Corinthians 1:20 Paul writes, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. Christ is certainly the Amen in the sense that he is the true God incarnate. Whatever God says is true and certain therefore, he is the God of truth (Isa 65:16 ESV).
“Amen” is the transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “truth,” “affirmation,” or “certainty.” “Amen” is often used in Scripture to affirm the truthfulness of a statement (Ps 72:19 Ro 16:27). Verse 14 says, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.” Jesus identified himself in three ways: “Amen,” “the faithful and true witness,” and “the ruler of God’s creation.” “Amen” as a title is uniquely applied to Jesus here. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul mentions Laodicea five times (2:1 4:13,15,16 ). Most likely, the churches at Laodicea, Colosse and Hierapolis were founded by Epaphras, who was the Apostle Paul’s coworker (Col 1:7 4:12-13). Laodicea’s chief deities were Zeus and Men Karou-god of healing and patron of the city’s famous medical school. It had the best clothes at that time-Roman It was famous for banking, medicine and textiles and was a very wealthy city. Laodicea became a center of transportation between Ephesus in the west and Mesopotamia in the east. The other two cities were Colosse, which was about ten miles to the east, and Hierapolis, about six miles to the north. It was one of three famous cities clustered in the valley of the river Lycus. Laodicea was about 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Let’s listen to Jesus’ gracious invitation and open the doors of our hearts to welcome him in.įirst, Laodicea, a lukewarm church (14-17). Most of all, we should deeply accept Jesus’ unfailing and unending love so that we may be renewed with gospel truth and shine brightly once again in this dark world. We, also, should take warning from this passage. In reality, many churches in America today are lukewarm too. What is worse, they had no awareness that they had a problem. What was it that had aroused Jesus’ indignation with this church? Jesus describes their condition as “lukewarm.” In brief it means they had no truth, and no fervor or zeal their spirits were lukewarm. Jesus had a great hope for this church to be renewed and to once again shine the gospel truth brightly. Nevertheless, upon this church Jesus’ love and mercy was poured out most lavishly.
But the light was extinguished in this church. In the darkest time, it should be the church that is the light of the world by keeping the truth of the gospel. Yet, amazingly, it is to this church that Jesus offers his most gracious invitation. The entire church was so degenerate that there is no commendation to anyone, but only a sharp warning and rebuke. Even the dead church at Sardis had some people who were not defiled by compromising with the sinful culture.
We have now come to the last of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, the church at Laodicea. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
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