The Message to Laodicea
14 “And to the
angel of the church in Laodicea
write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of
God’s creation:
15 “I know your
works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you
are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have
prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 Therefore I
counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and
white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being
seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 I reprove and
discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. 20 Listen! I am
standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will
come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. 21 To the one who
conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered
and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Let anyone who
has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
— Revelation 3:14-22 (NRSV)
There is a spiritual world all around us, eternally. It is invisible. It is
amazingly powerful, far beyond the powers of our physical world. There is not
only a spiritual world, but within that world, is a cosmic war going on. The
stakes remain high in the fighting of this war for this reason: there are
lives, so many lives, going toward hell, or so many lives destined to spend
eternity devoid of Christ.
We are – the majority of the Christian church – the Laodiceans. We are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
This is not said
just to make us feel bad. But it is a realistic summing up of our present day
church where leaders are just as lukewarm as their followers are.
We are lukewarm
not just because of our privileged culture, but it’s also, and mainly, about
the spiritual realm where demons roam and angels glide everywhere – to our
complete ignorance.
We, as human
beings, are influenced and sometimes even possessed by demons. There are
formidable demons that do whatever the devil asks of them to do. Demons are
specialists such that they might influence us in myriad potential ways. Angels,
on the other hand, are there to protect
our blindside, given that angels cannot help us when our will wavers into
sin by our choice. Angels are instructed by the Holy Spirit; demons by Satan.
God wants us to
make choices relating to saying “yes” to Jesus.
Jesus knocks at
the door of our hearts; angels are urging us on; but, demons want to silence
Jesus’ knock.
By our lives of
faith and faith-fledged works – of trust and obedience – we show that we are true
Christians (and not Laodiceans). This is important because angels have an
easier job journeying with true Christians and demons have little influence on
these.
***
The best protection we have against
spiritual warfare is to do the will of God. Angels cannot protect us where we
have the will to sin. Demons influence, possess, and destroy. They want us
sinning and to continue sinning. But angels – cherubim, seraphim, etc – have
the greatest delight when we do the Lord’s will.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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