0987. The Overcomers at Laodicea

The Overcomers at Laodicea

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Rev_3:21)

The overcomers in other churches were blessed in proportion to the conditions which they overcame. As the church age in Laodicea has reached its final climax of apostasy, the overcomer will be blessed indeed.

Some saints may grieve that it falls to their lot to live in an era in which the church was so corrupted, both by worldliness and by false teaching. They should rather rejoice. The apostasy affords the Lord an opportunity to speak His tenderest and most gracious words: "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." How blessed the fellowship that the Laodicean overcomer may enjoy!

Let us notice three things:

1. The vision of Christ. To the Church of Laodicea Christ speaks of Himself as "The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of the creation of God." Is it a mere accident that the Lord is proclaimed by the Spirit to be everything which a Laodicean age denies Him to be? He is the Amen–the final word, concerning everything. He is the Faithful and True Witness–He speaks always and only the truth. He is the beginning of the creation of God–for, by Him and for Him were all things made that are made.

Laodicean apostates would humanize Christ, deny the infallibility of His Word, and decry His creative acts. The apostates glory in evolution, and place so-called science with its unverified statements and theories, against the true Word of Christ.

2. The vision of the overcomer's victory. The Laodicean overcomer stands true to God and to His Son in the midst of a generation that denies Him. He confesses himself a stranger and a pilgrim, 'midst a people who are enriched with worldly goods and content with earthly dwelling.

He stems the tide, goes outside the camp, and gladly bears the reproach of his Master.

3. The vision of the overcomer's reward. "I will grant Him to sit with Me in My throne." Thus the overcomer has in this life the blessed promise, "I will come in and sup with him," and in the age to come he has the promise, "He will sit with Me." What more could he desire?

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR