As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
As many as He loves He rebukes and chastens to restore and heal, not to forsake or discourage, commanding them to be zealous and repent with whole-hearted conversion. It is spoken by Christ Himself as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, to Laodicea, a lukewarm people who claim to be rich and in need of nothing while they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. It stands between His counsel to buy gold tried in fire, white raiment, and eyesalve, and His promise to come in and sup with whoever opens the door, leading to overcoming and sitting with Him in His throne, while those who refuse will be spued out of His mouth. It is a present last-day message to His professed people who have had great light yet have not walked in it, not to make them Babylon or call them out, but to purify and restore them for revival amid perils and deceptions. Received it brings deep repentance, heartfelt confession, individual heart-searching without judging brethren, and earnest zealous labor for souls, while resisted through murmuring, self-sufficiency and faultfinding it leaves sin unremoved and grieves away the Spirit unto ruin.
Love Behind Rebuke
As many as He loves He rebukes and chastens, and that correction comes from love and calls those corrected to earnest zeal and turning from wrong. The love is shown in earnest appeals, reproofs and warnings to those who are lukewarm and falsely confident, spiritually blind and deceived about their condition, requiring decisive change. It is God's message for the churches to those He corrects.
That loving correction is sent to restore and heal backsliding rather than to forsake, reject, discourage, tear down, or show lack of tenderness. When chastisement comes He uses it to save souls from death and from danger, to expose sins, neglect of duty, selfishness, pride and love of the world so that true spiritual poverty is recognized and turned from. It is given as spoken warnings under the constraint of the Spirit declaring the whole counsel of God, leading to zeal and repentance so that each one who opens the door receives the richest blessings from Christ coming in. It does not call the church Babylon nor call God's people out, but keeps the chastened church to do its work as salt of the earth and light of the world, living messengers to proclaim a living message in the last days.
Discipline is a Father's tender training, bitter and grievous for the present, appointed so that those exercised by it may share His holiness and afterward bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It is also a mother's faithful watching and disciplining of her child, in which the human agent is worked, fashioned and molded by the Holy Spirit rather than working the Spirit, meaning repression, submission and bending of the will in a certain direction after the will and way of God. No one can retain a perverse character in a single line and still be led and taught by God, and those irritated at being reproved and hindered from selfish ways, with pride of temperament, self-esteem and a masterly spirit subordinating everything to their own ideas, cannot be used until self dies and errors, imperfections, crude manners, discourteous unchristlike words and unsanctified practices are separated so character resembles His own and His children become workers together with Him. Trials cut away selfishness, earthliness and harmful traits so His people become purer and holier, calling them to humble themselves, seek His peace and endure patiently rather than complain or rebel. They are not punishment or proof He has passed anyone by as unworthy, but a refining process developing what is precious, purifying character, bringing out the reflection of His image, forming the divine nature and the peaceable fruits of righteousness with praise, honor and glory at Jesus' appearing. He rebukes and corrects those professing to keep His law to separate them from sin, exposing wrongdoing so they may be refined and sanctified, grow in holiness and be prepared either to die in the Lord or be translated. That mercy restrains evil, and those who partake of the divine nature, escape worldly corruption through lust and have His Spirit abiding see His lessons as divinely significant and in harmony with His mission of love, recognize the mercy administering reproof, overcome surface work leaving character imperfect, dwarfed, feeble and sickly, grow in true grace and godliness, have hearts melted into tenderness with pity for souls who might be saved, and develop character bringing to light the purposes of the heart through truth working by love and purifying the soul.
It is spoken by Christ Himself as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, with no human informant behind His words, and His word will be vindicated to the letter. It searches the heart diligently and puts away evasions, deceits, prevarications, subterfuges and other evils God hates. It is addressed to those who once knew and loved the truth but are now lukewarm, fully satisfied with their spiritual condition while wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked under terrible deception, in danger of being rejected as offensive to Him though loved and worked with by God, in the very last days of earth's history. That repentance answers His counsel to buy gold tried in the fire, white raiment and eyesalve, opens the door to Him as He stands and knocks to come in and sup, and leads to overcoming and sitting with Him in His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father, a message for all churches with ears to hear what the Spirit says. Reproof and warning become necessary for salvation when those who have had truth and know God's requirements do not heed light given in His Word, enter temptation and fail to discern danger and Satan's working, and the call is for zeal and repentance rather than feeling ill-treated, finding fault with message and messenger, pitying self and walking in one's own counsel. When He sees souls in danger He sends reproof through the True Witness, and those reproved must not rise against it, be jealous of the reprover, or dissect or discount what God sends, but receive it, reform, seek God, find Him and be converted with earnest turning, thankful not to be left to blindness and hardness. Repentance and confession is the Spirit's work humbling self and breaking Satan's hold over those led captive at his will, and everything depends on hearing that voice as Jesus and opening to it, for continuing in self-presumption, attributing the rebuke to anyone but Jesus and refusing the invitation opens the heart to bewitching delusions to ruin, while heeding with humbled contrite heart defeats Satan, gives Christ victory in the conflict He and Satan wage with all heaven watching, and brings angelic rejoicing with joyous anthems over another heart conquered by mercy and love.
True love reproves rather than flatters and praises, for the best friends are not flatterers but those who reprove, and the Holy Spirit's voice comes as a reprover. Flatterers are agents of the enemy used to lay a snare, so no undue confidence belongs to them, while confidence belongs to those who love and fear God whose frank reproof does good. Sin must be named and reproved promptly and decisively, exposing wrongs and calling to put away sins bringing spiritual poverty, blindness, wretchedness and deception. He bears long with sinners and does not cut them off for errors, but reproves in tenderness and draws by love close to Himself, so correction must be given in His spirit with sorrow blended with love, not by harsh dealing, open rebuke humiliating before others, or publishing errors beyond those who must know. Being in harmony with that straight testimony means laying the hand decidedly upon wrong and reproving individual wrong in personal labor out of the desk, not only being pointed in public preaching in the desk, with sound judgment of circumstances and character, freedom from prejudice, sympathy for the disaffected, jealousy, suspicion, willfulness and division from faithful fellow laborers, discerning whom to be in union with and whom to meet with severe censure rather than building up those deserving censure, pulling with full strength together instead of scattering and tearing down. False sympathy for wrongdoers must die, for it began in heaven at Satan's fall, blunts reproof and pleases Satan, and God will have in the church only those earnestly striving to be right with opportunity to develop character, so unwillingness to act against crookedness, even in family members unworthy of the Christian name yet claiming privileges of God's house, is wrong and the straight testimony must not be blunted.
Laodicean Condition Described
Revelation 3:19 belongs to Christ's counsel to Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22, addressed to a lukewarm church that is neither cold nor hot, indifferent, formal, half-hearted, cold and worldly, seeking human approval rather than God's, and very offensive to Him yet loved enough to be awakened to zealous repentance and receiving the spiritual goods they lack or face rejection. It is a gracious call coming to believers now as a present message to the church of today, especially to professing Christians who have become so like the world that no difference can be seen, repeated as the last call to a backslidden church because God abhors indifference in religious things. Those addressed are colder and more formal in religious things, self-confident and determined to carry out their own ideas and plans, set between the counsel to buy gold tried in the fire, white raiment, and eyesalve and the promise that Christ stands at the door to come in and sup with whoever opens and to grant the overcomer to sit with Him in His throne.
The verse exposes those who say they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing while they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked, deceived about their condition, living in guilty self-deception and bankruptcy, clothed in self-righteousness and walking in self-kindled sparks. That self-sufficiency and lukewarmness is met by urging them to buy from Him gold tried in the fire which is faith and love, white raiment which is Christ's righteousness woven in heaven's loom to cover nakedness, and eyesalve which is spiritual discernment to distinguish true righteousness from self-righteousness and to see defects of character. The call to be zealous and repent is to be taken hold of now together with light brought in new settings about Christ our righteousness, answering His counsel by opening the door and every crevice of the heart to let Jesus in to sup and take possession, leading to overcoming and sitting with Him in His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father, a message for all churches with ears to hear. It is directed to people deceived about their spiritual condition and urged to recognize and turn from sin, a call to men and women upon whom the light of truth has been shining for many years to put away self-sufficiency before it is too late for them to find repentance even though they may then seek it with tears.
The verse confronts worldliness that makes professed followers cold and formal, fast losing peculiarity and simplicity and imitating the fashions of the world, with pride in dress such as ruffles and bonnets covered with bows and ribbons as the index to pride in the heart showing the lukewarm condition. It confronts pride, love of fashion, covetousness and love of earthly wealth, love of amusement, selfishness with self uncrucified, self-love and self-deception and neglect of fellow believers, hardness of heart and lack of brotherly love, and loss of first love that leaves service without value and good qualities undermined. God is now proving, testing and trying His professed people to develop character, to bring out what is in the heart, and to separate the precious from the vile and purify them from the world and the evil passions of the heart. Heeding the faithful and true Witness in earnest repentance, reproof and obedience is the only way to escape being spued out of His mouth, for the spewing out does not happen until this proving is finished; those who obey remain as a pure and holy, self-denying, cross-bearing people, while those who choose their own way and will not repent will be left behind.
The verse confronts spiritual pride, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency and blindness, hardness and unjust self-righteous spirit, calling for its breaking, for despising self, and for return to Christ rather than harshness and criticism toward one another. It confronts a religion of faultfinding and criticism and obstructing the Spirit of God, standing in judgment on God's messengers and working on Satan's side while claiming to believe the truth, with caviling and gossip over one another, envy, evil-surmising and circulating false reports even in the churches. Such warnings and invitations must no longer be met with cold indifference, nor turned aside with the thought that they belong to others or that one is in fairly good spiritual condition, for those who reason so are the very ones to whom the message belongs. Repentance means coming under the molding influence of the Holy Spirit, leaving Satan's leadership and choosing the Lord's side with decided response, weeping confession and prayer, earnestly seeking precious gold of character and willingly admitting Jesus so His image is reflected and an intensity of love is created, or withdrawing as bodies of death, for it is life or death and now is the day of opportunity.
The verse confronts professed believers who profess to serve Christ while denying Him in life, who do not follow the teaching of the Word and are ignorant of their true condition, who are not thoroughly converted, whose religion is only a form and whose lives do not please God. Its warning applies to church members who have neglected duty and lost precious time that could have been used to win souls, who claim to be God's children but are blinded by worldliness and self-exaltation, who have a name to live while dead and dishonor their profession by false paths against light. Christ's admonition is kind and faithful and given in love, and they may choose to respond and share in salvation; if they refuse, they will be rejected, for God's pity is tender but His Spirit will not keep striving forever and mercy's voice will cease, leaving the unrepentant to their own ways and consequences.
In one early application the Laodiceans rebuked are nominal first-day Adventists lost in fog, unable to tell where they are, with terrible fear and anguish of spirit taking hold of them, brought into close quarters and daring hardly to admit that the door is shut. They refused victory by looking to the meek and lowly Pattern and shutting the eyes to everything but the present, saving truth, though called to make a struggle to obtain victory by zealous repentance and fighting the good fight of faith. They ascribed God's work to Satan, saying the shut door was of the devil, which is the sin against the Holy Ghost by ascribing to Satan what belongs to God and what the Holy Ghost has done, standing against their own lives unto death because to admit it is against their own life. Though they will make a mighty effort, they will not get the victory, for one who has the truth will chase a thousand and two will put ten thousand to flight.
The verse exposes those addressed in Revelation 3:14-22 who think themselves clothed with the garments of righteousness while unfit for the marriage supper of the Lamb, wearing only the dress of a civilian. That Laodicean condition is shown by boastful speech offensive to God, works that bring glory to men rather than to God, acting without the leading of the Spirit of God, and threatening to bring the law against opposers.
Nearby Counsel and Promises
Revelation 3:19 stands in the midst of Christ's counsel to Laodicea, calling the lukewarm to repent zealously and receive what they lack or face rejection. On one side is the counsel to buy from Him gold tried in the fire, white raiment, and eyesalve, and on the other is the promise that He stands at the door and knocks to come in and sup with whoever opens. The gold is faith and love and true riches of character, the white raiment is Christ's righteousness covering nakedness and shame, and the eyesalve is spiritual discernment to distinguish true righteousness from self-righteousness and to see spiritual need. Those addressed are professed followers who have become worldly, cold and formal, who say they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing while they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, without the robe of righteousness and unready to meet Him. Heeding the faithful and true Witness, repenting zealously, and receiving that provision opens the door to fellowship with Him.
The call to be zealous and repent leads to overcoming and to sitting with Christ in His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father in His throne. All who have an ear must hear this as what the Spirit says to the churches. Escape from being spued out comes by following this counsel with simplicity, humility of mind and contrition of soul, opening the door when He knocks so He will come in and sup together. Zealous repentance also opens the way to being clothed in white raiment, keeping the name in the book of life, and having Christ confess the name before the Father and angels. Only those thus sanctified through truth will make up the royal family in the heavenly homes prepared for those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Those who refuse to repent will be spued out of His mouth, renounced and rejected, and left destitute of His presence and of true riches while still claiming in self-righteousness to be rich. Becoming lukewarm removes favor as surely as open falling, and professed commandment-keepers with no more vitality and consecration than nominal churches will receive plagues just as surely as churches that oppose the law. The lukewarm condition joins scenes of amusement and fellowship with worldlings in darkness, and love therefore calls for leaving self-strength and worldly company and working no longer under the great deceiver. Judgment comes according to works upon those who go on in sin instead of heeding while mercy and warning are proclaimed.
Repentance here means true conversion of the whole man. The one reproved must become a truly changed person, rid of selfishness, returned to God with all the heart, returned to first love and first works, watchful to strengthen the things that remain and holding fast what was received and heard. It means knowing just where one stands, having the heart of stone broken and awakened, feeling His converting power, and bringing the fragrance of His life into the life to represent the great I AM. It means leaving off caviling and gossip, earnestly seeking precious gold of character, willingly admitting Jesus so His image is reflected in the soul and an intensity of love is created. It means opening the door and every crevice of the heart so Christ will come in and fellowship, the Holy Spirit will come in and abide, Satan will be expelled from the soul temple, and the pardoned one will become a witness and laborer together with God in warning and saving the world.
Present Church Application
The rebuke belongs to a message sent to the church of the present day, especially to professing Christians who have become so like the world that no difference can be seen, and to Seventh-day Adventists who have had great light, large opportunities and sacred trust as depositaries of law and eternal truth yet have not walked in the light or kept in step with their Leader. It is God's message for the churches now, showing that correction and discipline are love striving to be recognized by the Holy Spirit, calling for an end to caviling and gossip and for earnest seeking of gold of character, opening the door to Christ so His image is reflected and intensity of love is created. Those addressed are without the robe of righteousness and unready to meet Him if He came today, yet loved and chastened to make them zealous and repentant, with promise to come in and sup with whoever opens and to grant the overcomer to sit with Him in His throne even as He overcame and sat with His Father, which all with an ear must hear as what the Spirit says to the churches.
The loving correction does not make the church Babylon, does not call God's people out of her, blot out her existence, or break her up, but is spoken warnings under the Spirit declaring the whole counsel of God to individual members in order to restore and heal all backslidings. Its purpose is zeal and repentance so each one who opens the door receives the richest blessings from Christ coming in, lest the unrepentant be spewed out of His mouth. The chastened church is kept to do its work as salt of the earth and light of the world, living messengers to proclaim a living message in the last days, while wheat and tares grow together until angels separate at harvest.
It is the last gracious call to repentance made to a backslidden church that has grown colder, more formal, self-confident and determined to carry out its own ideas, since God abhors indifference in religious things. The call forces decision whether to heed and turn with wholehearted zeal rather than half-heartedness while the third angel's message, the last message of mercy and last warning to a fallen world, is being proclaimed, or to go on in sin and receive plagues as surely as opposing churches, for only those sanctified through truth will make up the royal family in the heavenly homes prepared for those who love Him and keep His commandments. It is truth for this time to be given now with distinct evidence, calling for humble repentance to receive pardon and save the soul from death, because repentance has become mixed with hay, wood and stubble bringing wrong works and underhand dealing while talking principle, and every evil work is coming into judgment.
It is an earnest warning to prepare to meet the Lord in the clouds with power and great glory, confronting indifference to foretold signs that show the end right upon us, given while a most trying time is ahead and thickening perils will increase until the close of history. It is given for these last days to keep minds from confusion, because Satan works in all deceivableness to deceive if possible the very elect, and confusion now may be of death unto death amid scoffing, calamity and deception.
It was made known by Christ Himself to John on Patmos as part of Revelation 3, the last testimony to the churches, whose every word must be studied by those watching for souls as those who must give account. The chapter portrays church history to the end of time with symbols of God's professed people, portrays the spiritual life of many, holds out precious promises to the overcomer, and shows Christ weighing every thought, word and act, with special force from its first verses through the whole. It therefore charges ministers and doctors in every place under the Holy Spirit to give the watchman's message in clear tones to guard every outpost, so no soul passes into uncertainty or is led on in wrong until caught to perish in confusion, and to rouse themselves and not remain stubborn in unbelief, while warning against men arising with claimed new light whose theories would destroy faith in truths tested for half a century. The counsel in Revelation 3:18-22 holds that Christ's righteousness is the only garment that will do, requiring those with light on Bible truth to stay awake, advance with opening providence, and keep that garment.
The message belongs to the church in Los Angeles and to churches generally, calling for a deep work of grace to awake and arouse, practice professed truth, give the unconverted evidence of heavenly origin, and do the given work. It requires the church in Monterey to arise and zealously repent of lukewarmness, backslidings and indifferent carelessness so the Lord is glorified, with thorough repentance and correction of displeasing things, because repeated warnings produced only temporary effect and sliding back for want of sensing danger, and those who will not repent will be spewed out. It applies likewise to Oakland and Berkeley, to Battle Creek, to camp-meetings held in a tame way, to schools and sanitariums, and to the Medical Missionary Association in a Laodicean condition not accepted by God and failing to prepare people for a sound experience to stand the judgment.
It applies to those in responsible places in publishing work who weaken its influence by using presses to print deceiving errors and false science like Satan's deception of Adam and Eve, acting as the enemy's helping hand and sowing ruinous seeds, proving paralyzed sense of sacredness, feeble pulse, perverted taste, corrupted discernment, lukewarm indifference, lack of spiritual mindedness, failure to guard God's honor, spiritual blindness unable to distinguish sacred from common, nauseating to God and in danger of rejection unless they repent. It is addressed to those in charge of publishing houses who brought objectionable matter injuring souls, dishonoring God, wasting money on unneeded presses, and marring the work by worldly methods, unchristlike spirit and sanctioned deception, who are on losing ground and cannot be blessed while refusing to humble proud spirits in obedience, and must examine themselves, pity their souls, see their error and repent.
It is a personal warning to one whose position is perilous, who will have no future blessedness and will lose his soul if remaining where he is, calling to return to first love and first works, be converted, watch and strengthen what remains, hold fast what was received and heard, then labor with God in warning and saving the world, opening the way to overcoming, white raiment, retention in the book of life, confession before the Father and angels, supping with Christ, and sitting with Him in His throne. It took in hand the case of J. E. White in mistakes over borrowing large sums and engaging in speculations, dealing in love and compassion for the tempted and erring to correct and restore, not to reject, so brethren must not impair his usefulness, misjudge motives, withhold confidence, or blame and discourage him to despair and bitterness, but give sympathy, compassion and tenderness while he bears correction without rebellion and seeks to acknowledge and correct mistakes. It faithfully describes the case of Dr. Kellogg, calling proud and careless ministers and stubborn holders of false theories to be zealous, repent, turn back, be thoroughly converted and sanctified by truths taught, though admitting mistakes is very difficult for him. It calls an individual member to turn from lukewarmness, inconsistencies and overbearing dictatorial spirit unlike Christ, bringing way and will into obedience to save the soul and cease weakening the church with unconsecrated perversity, and it likewise exposes those who construe the burning of the Sanitarium after their own ideas and act as Job's comforters searching to condemn, whose faultfinding proves their own Laodicean need to repent, as well as a church injurer like a granite wall and leaders needing severe chastisement to break deception.
Calamity such as the sweeping away of the Sanitarium by fire is manifest token of displeasure given as admonition, reproof, rebuke and punishment, proving love and not forsaking, since God rebukes and permits disaster to save and correction must never cause discouragement. Loss can be mercy, exposing unsafe condition and hidden defects by allowing property to be destroyed when no one is aboard so lives otherwise lost are preserved, revealing a God of mercy and pitying tenderness working for good even when unperceived, whose loving-kindness is discerned in sacrificing property while sparing life. The affliction must not pass unheeded but be studied to learn why punishment came, leading every soul connected with the work to earnest self-examination and discernment of departure from God, with humble turning from the wrong way to God's way, lest neglected rebuke be followed by still sterner punishment.
It belongs to the highest education that can be given, coming from God Himself, to be read together with the law pronounced in awful grandeur from Sinai and with Revelation 5.
Receiving or Rejecting Message
The counsel must be taken not as human opinion but as God's own word operating powerfully in those who believe, and where it is treated as merely human and held in doubt both message and messenger lose power over mind and heart and leave hearers in darkness. It is to be pondered and prayed over so believers become strong in the Lord and understand His will, and every word of the third chapter is to be studied by those who watch for souls as those who must give account. It is to be given in clear decided tones under the Holy Spirit as a watchman's warning that guards every outpost, permits no soul to drift into uncertainty or be led on in wrong until caught to perish in confusion, lest their blood be required of unfaithful watchmen, and therefore ministers and physicians everywhere are charged to rouse from stubborn unbelief. It calls hearers, especially students, to recognize a right side and a wrong side and to stand for the right even when the majority as in Noah's day choose the wrong, even when the world under Satan sustains and popularizes sin and transgression of God's law, which does not weaken one principle of Jehovah. There is danger in loosening hold on what was heard and learned from the Source of all light, so the platform of truth must be held fast without loosening a pin or removing a pillar, for human interpretations and received fables spoil faith, confuse understanding, and make faith in Christ of no effect. Wherever Providence opens the way the message is to be proclaimed plainly now by messengers, presenting the true lukewarm yet self-satisfied condition before the church.
The solemn counsel of the faithful Witness is straight testimony that produces a shaking among God's people, and the destiny of the church hangs upon how it is received. Received, it works upon the heart to produce deep repentance, leads to exalting the standard and pouring forth plain truth, and all who truly receive it obey it and are purified. Resisted, it is risen against and not borne, and that opposition and division causes the shaking which continues and will grow greater as the message does its searching work now. The testimony has been lightly esteemed if not entirely disregarded and not half heeded, yet it must work deep repentance.
Mercy grants time for excitement and fear to wear off, for character to develop and be weighed, while angels patiently wait to mark growth in moral worth. Rebuking, chastening, testing of character and rejection of the lukewarm are the Lord's own work, not work for ministers or believers to seize into their own hands by hurried excitable demands to close the work at once, by pushing off all who fall short of a human standard, or by refusing association with those supposed to be rejected and thus running ahead of the angels. The proving and trying of professed people to separate and purify them from pride, love of fashion and evil passions of the heart must finish before rejection comes, so that those who obey remain as a pure holy self-denying cross-bearing people while those who choose their own way and will not repent are left behind. The message is designed to expose backsliding, to call for examination of heart, confession and deep humility to purify sins that long shut out Jesus, and thus to favor with His presence and fit for the loud cry of the third angel, a work not done in a few short months. It has accomplished less because of hardness of heart and because many lost its effect when no powerful work appeared quickly, yet God has given it time and it will do its work, even now blessing efforts that have brought many from error and darkness to rejoice in truth, and where fully heeded God works in greater power. The delay tests whether obedience springs from principle and faith rather than feeling or fear, whether cherished idols are overcome step by step, and whether the latter rain and translation are prepared for.
The rebuke becomes necessary to salvation when those who have had truth and know God's requirements fail to heed light in His Word, enter temptation, and miss their danger and Satan's working, and the call is to zeal and repentance rather than feeling ill-treated, finding fault with message and messenger, pitying self, and walking in self-counsel. Those in danger must not rise against reproof, grow jealous of the reprover, or dissect and discount what God sends, but receive it with thankfulness that they were not left to blindness and hardness, reform, seek God, find Him, and turn earnestly from sin. Murmuring against straight testimony does not remove sin or prepare for judgment, and those who claim to follow while unconverted and refusing to repent will face shame and be unable to defend their deeds. The message is not smooth reassurance that members are nearly right or were reproved without cause, but plain reproof exposing prevailing sin and lack of Bible humility, patience, faith, love, self-denial, watchfulness, sacrifice, holiness and obedience to all requirements. It is personally meant for each one and not uncalled for, yet many do not receive it but cling to doubts and darling sins while insisting they need nothing, and those who think it means others and not themselves most need grace and discernment to discover spiritual deficiency, gain practical Bible truth leading to lowliness and conformity of will to Christ, and maintain by constant effort victory step by step as God leads on.
Heeded with humbled contrite heart the call breaks Satan's hold over captives led at his will, for repentance and confession are the Spirit's work, and everything turns on hearing the voice as Jesus and opening to it. Then Satan suffers defeat, Christ gains victory in the conflict He and Satan wage with all heaven watching, and angels rejoice with anthems over another heart conquered by mercy and love. The appeal is a plea from the Redeemer and only hope, not merely a warning from ministers or prophets, given in tender pity and longing to save from self unto mercy, pardon and final salvation, yet those who refuse to come and do His word are responsible, for the power that saves is also strong to punish. Received and acknowledged as truth the message becomes a savor of life unto life, transforming critics in home and church who sowed doubt, unbelief and accusation, paid no tithes and gave no offerings, into kind tender helpers yoked with Christ in partnership through unreserved surrender to the Spirit, while treated with self-justification and criticism of message and messenger it becomes a savor of death unto death. Refused, it leaves the merely formal professor whose life does not please God to be rejected and thrust out as disgusting, with pity still tender but the Spirit at last grieved away, mercy's voice heard no more, and the unrepentant left to their own ways and doings unto disappointment, ruin and loss of heaven when all are rewarded according to works around the great white throne.
No one should wait for special feeling before surrendering, but want God at the very commencement, and as soon as rejection of God is seen come at once, acknowledge it and redeem the time, showing by personal response to the infinite sacrifice what will be done, for none will be placed in heaven with the mold of self-will. It is not too late to save the soul, but there is a soul to save or a soul to lose, so all are called into closer relation with God, to wrestle for immortality and the life measuring with God's life, to obtain the eternal weight of glory promised every overcomer, to come out and be separate and touch not the unclean, to walk humbly and contritely so He will revive and help, to prize the gift of Christ, and to get ready at once for coming in the clouds very soon to be met in peace. While He serves as priest in the heavenly sanctuary pardon remains available, so the rebuked should own demerits and acknowledge justice even in humiliating chastisement, diligently seek pardon with zealous repentance, and not falsify God and His ministers as hard, for faithful ministers must deal plainly and closely. Churches that know the faith yet have not made required changes must humble themselves and repent sincerely with changed attitude, and this will bring awakening and renewed love for Christ. The third chapter given to John on Patmos must now be carefully studied, prayed over for God to reveal its import, and thanked for as present mercy, guarding against claims of new light whose theories would destroy faith in truths tested for half a century and against false theories about God that nullify the plain word and end in treating the whole Bible as fiction, lest neglect harden the heart.
Living Out Repentance
Repentance under this verse is strictly individual work, each person zealous to repent for his own wrongs and to care for his own soul rather than repenting for a brother or sister. It forbids taking up watching of others to decide whether they are zealous enough or moving fast enough, being burdened to reprove and bear down upon brethren and bind burdens upon them. That course of correcting others instead of attending to one's own conscience brings darkness and leaves a man in worse condition than those he reproves, neglecting his own soul while trying to keep brethren straight. The call requires careful self-searching, searching the heart, correcting the evil in self, leaving the tangled mass of watching and faulting others, dwelling on the great principles of faith, looking away from each other to Jesus as pattern rather than measuring by each other or exalting one's own judgment as unerring. It is to be taken hold of by each for himself, throwing away mere feeling, feeling destitution, buying gold to be rich, eyesalve to see, and white raiment to be clothed, acting on individual responsibility while relying wholly upon God.
The response commanded is heartfelt confession of sins to God and to one another, humbling pride and the hard unjust self-righteous spirit, opening eyes to the true wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked condition beneath the claim to be rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing. No one is to be too proud for heartfelt confession, with those of influence leading, confessing disunion and lack of love, asking forgiveness of one another face to face, weeping together and reconciling, going to those against whom there is grievance, praying for one another, abandoning strife and alienation. Refusing to confess reveals a closed heart, while obeying brings earnest prayer with tears, deep heart work, close examination of heart, purifying the heart from sins that long shut out Jesus, and deep humility before God. Where fully heeded this produces the presence of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit, confession spreading through the whole congregation, praise and rejoicing as at Pentecost continuing till nearly morning, proving heaven waits to be gracious when His people humble themselves.
Repentance is then believed and acted out, righting every known wrong that can be righted, confessing every known sin and doing what can be done on the human part, then taking God at His word that He accepts and receives. It is not going mourning but seeking diligently, believing because He is faithful who promised, climbing up by faith and not by feeling, with confidence resting not on personal worthiness or feelings but on Jesus' worthiness and cleansing blood. Believing is itself part of the work, the way for one who feels down and does not know how to arise to rise, move understandingly, drink of God's salvation, and have confidence before God and one another. This zeal must be shown in life and before others, especially children whose salvation is shaped by parental example, prizing personal salvation and that of loved ones enough to make sacrifice, cut loose from the world and separate from it, live as men waiting for their Lord, sell what is owned, give alms, lay up treasure in heaven, surrender at the beginning of reform without waiting for special feeling, and make the most of time in character building for heaven.
Zeal here means earnest, whole-souled, self-sacrificing labor with wide-awake purpose, because God's people live far below privilege and must show in all public labor that they seek things above where Christ sits at God's right hand. It is determined effort to overcome worldly and selfish love and become consecrated, devoted Christians whose lives show tender warmth and love, replacing indifference, idleness and sloth with renewed energy and vigilant action. It calls for untiring missionary effort while time is short, redeeming neglected duty and lost time that could have won souls, warning the world, using every ability, putting on the whole armor of God and calling on angels that excel in strength lest faith be eclipsed by fierceness of conflict. God's commandment-keeping people ought always to be thus zealous, not failing nor discouraged, realizing eternal vigilance is the price of safety, for continued indifference and sloth end in loss of personal religion and of heaven amid increasing dangers and Satan working with great power and all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
This repentance begins at once in the home and reforms daily life, correcting neglected duties and refusing to remain in the Laodicean condition. Parents are to confess neglect of duty to children, accept responsibility, diligently teach and guide them, show true colors, keep conversation pure and elevating, be aroused and converted so sanctification shines in clear distinct rays. Lukewarmness to be cured is neglecting religious services and prayer meetings, laying aside spiritual garments, failing to keep lamps trimmed and burning and to reflect God's light and glory, letting religion become mere form with very low spiritual temperature, having a name to live while dead. It is treating the Sabbath as mere rest from physical labor rather than a sweet foretaste of the Sabbath above, meeting in Sabbath assemblies to sing assigned songs with effort but not from the heart, lacking Christ's joy, meekness and humility. To repent is to arise from lethargy, put away self-complacency, be stirred by heart-searching gospel truths that bring conviction, engage in personal labor, go forth with evangelistic spirit to invigorate others with gospel hope, humbling self, confessing sins, drawing near to God with assurance He will draw near, fearing to continue in transgression because the great day of salvation has come.
True conversion under this rebuke is unfinished while self remains uncrucified, while self-love, self-deception, hardness of heart and neglect of fellow believers undermine good qualities. The correction is meant to turn selfish love into unselfish love from Jesus, manifesting Christ's Spirit in meekness and lowliness, treating those holding differing views with fairness, making no false statements or false witness, loving God supremely and neighbor as self. It demands thorough reformation that purges sin and restores favor, turning from backsliding, from neglecting received light and privileges, from professing truth without practicing it, to genuine pure Christianity and whole-hearted obedience to all God's commandments, since obedience brings salvation and disobedience ruin. Overcoming comes only as Christ overcame, by obedience that acts not by halves, with all Christian graces cherished together forming a beautiful symmetrical character able to stand unflinching when tested, lest the candle be put out and the faithful take the place of those refusing to shine.
Heeding the correction brings Christ coming in to the opened door with richest blessing, the Holy Spirit coming in and abiding in the soul temple, Satan expelled, strife healed, and power given to become sons of God. It brings revival of a feeble fragmentary church that had great light and many privileges yet remained feeble and inefficient, making it burning and shining lights practicing Bible principles through asking for the Holy Spirit. It brings cleansing of character pictured as white garments washed in the Lamb's blood and gold refined in fire, sins blotted out, peace, pardon, and witness, whereas blessings are withdrawn and light has little effect when testimonies are not heeded and men choose their own way because self is not crucified.
As many as He loves He rebukes and chastens to restore and heal, not to forsake or discourage, commanding them to be zealous and repent with whole-hearted conversion.
It is spoken by Christ Himself as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, to Laodicea, a lukewarm people who claim to be rich and in need of nothing while they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.
It stands between His counsel to buy gold tried in fire, white raiment, and eyesalve, and His promise to come in and sup with whoever opens the door, leading to overcoming and sitting with Him in His throne, while those who refuse will be spued out of His mouth.
It is a present last-day message to His professed people who have had great light yet have not walked in it, not to make them Babylon or call them out, but to purify and restore them for revival amid perils and deceptions.
Received it brings deep repentance, heartfelt confession, individual heart-searching without judging brethren, and earnest zealous labor for souls, while resisted through murmuring, self-sufficiency and faultfinding it leaves sin unremoved and grieves away the Spirit unto ruin.
Love Behind Rebuke
As many as He loves He rebukes and chastens, and that correction comes from love and calls those corrected to earnest zeal and turning from wrong. The love is shown in earnest appeals, reproofs and warnings to those who are lukewarm and falsely confident, spiritually blind and deceived about their condition, requiring decisive change. It is God's message for the churches to those He corrects.
That loving correction is sent to restore and heal backsliding rather than to forsake, reject, discourage, tear down, or show lack of tenderness. When chastisement comes He uses it to save souls from death and from danger, to expose sins, neglect of duty, selfishness, pride and love of the world so that true spiritual poverty is recognized and turned from. It is given as spoken warnings under the constraint of the Spirit declaring the whole counsel of God, leading to zeal and repentance so that each one who opens the door receives the richest blessings from Christ coming in. It does not call the church Babylon nor call God's people out, but keeps the chastened church to do its work as salt of the earth and light of the world, living messengers to proclaim a living message in the last days.
Discipline is a Father's tender training, bitter and grievous for the present, appointed so that those exercised by it may share His holiness and afterward bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It is also a mother's faithful watching and disciplining of her child, in which the human agent is worked, fashioned and molded by the Holy Spirit rather than working the Spirit, meaning repression, submission and bending of the will in a certain direction after the will and way of God. No one can retain a perverse character in a single line and still be led and taught by God, and those irritated at being reproved and hindered from selfish ways, with pride of temperament, self-esteem and a masterly spirit subordinating everything to their own ideas, cannot be used until self dies and errors, imperfections, crude manners, discourteous unchristlike words and unsanctified practices are separated so character resembles His own and His children become workers together with Him. Trials cut away selfishness, earthliness and harmful traits so His people become purer and holier, calling them to humble themselves, seek His peace and endure patiently rather than complain or rebel. They are not punishment or proof He has passed anyone by as unworthy, but a refining process developing what is precious, purifying character, bringing out the reflection of His image, forming the divine nature and the peaceable fruits of righteousness with praise, honor and glory at Jesus' appearing. He rebukes and corrects those professing to keep His law to separate them from sin, exposing wrongdoing so they may be refined and sanctified, grow in holiness and be prepared either to die in the Lord or be translated. That mercy restrains evil, and those who partake of the divine nature, escape worldly corruption through lust and have His Spirit abiding see His lessons as divinely significant and in harmony with His mission of love, recognize the mercy administering reproof, overcome surface work leaving character imperfect, dwarfed, feeble and sickly, grow in true grace and godliness, have hearts melted into tenderness with pity for souls who might be saved, and develop character bringing to light the purposes of the heart through truth working by love and purifying the soul.
It is spoken by Christ Himself as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, with no human informant behind His words, and His word will be vindicated to the letter. It searches the heart diligently and puts away evasions, deceits, prevarications, subterfuges and other evils God hates. It is addressed to those who once knew and loved the truth but are now lukewarm, fully satisfied with their spiritual condition while wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked under terrible deception, in danger of being rejected as offensive to Him though loved and worked with by God, in the very last days of earth's history. That repentance answers His counsel to buy gold tried in the fire, white raiment and eyesalve, opens the door to Him as He stands and knocks to come in and sup, and leads to overcoming and sitting with Him in His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father, a message for all churches with ears to hear what the Spirit says. Reproof and warning become necessary for salvation when those who have had truth and know God's requirements do not heed light given in His Word, enter temptation and fail to discern danger and Satan's working, and the call is for zeal and repentance rather than feeling ill-treated, finding fault with message and messenger, pitying self and walking in one's own counsel. When He sees souls in danger He sends reproof through the True Witness, and those reproved must not rise against it, be jealous of the reprover, or dissect or discount what God sends, but receive it, reform, seek God, find Him and be converted with earnest turning, thankful not to be left to blindness and hardness. Repentance and confession is the Spirit's work humbling self and breaking Satan's hold over those led captive at his will, and everything depends on hearing that voice as Jesus and opening to it, for continuing in self-presumption, attributing the rebuke to anyone but Jesus and refusing the invitation opens the heart to bewitching delusions to ruin, while heeding with humbled contrite heart defeats Satan, gives Christ victory in the conflict He and Satan wage with all heaven watching, and brings angelic rejoicing with joyous anthems over another heart conquered by mercy and love.
True love reproves rather than flatters and praises, for the best friends are not flatterers but those who reprove, and the Holy Spirit's voice comes as a reprover. Flatterers are agents of the enemy used to lay a snare, so no undue confidence belongs to them, while confidence belongs to those who love and fear God whose frank reproof does good. Sin must be named and reproved promptly and decisively, exposing wrongs and calling to put away sins bringing spiritual poverty, blindness, wretchedness and deception. He bears long with sinners and does not cut them off for errors, but reproves in tenderness and draws by love close to Himself, so correction must be given in His spirit with sorrow blended with love, not by harsh dealing, open rebuke humiliating before others, or publishing errors beyond those who must know. Being in harmony with that straight testimony means laying the hand decidedly upon wrong and reproving individual wrong in personal labor out of the desk, not only being pointed in public preaching in the desk, with sound judgment of circumstances and character, freedom from prejudice, sympathy for the disaffected, jealousy, suspicion, willfulness and division from faithful fellow laborers, discerning whom to be in union with and whom to meet with severe censure rather than building up those deserving censure, pulling with full strength together instead of scattering and tearing down. False sympathy for wrongdoers must die, for it began in heaven at Satan's fall, blunts reproof and pleases Satan, and God will have in the church only those earnestly striving to be right with opportunity to develop character, so unwillingness to act against crookedness, even in family members unworthy of the Christian name yet claiming privileges of God's house, is wrong and the straight testimony must not be blunted.
Laodicean Condition Described
Revelation 3:19 belongs to Christ's counsel to Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22, addressed to a lukewarm church that is neither cold nor hot, indifferent, formal, half-hearted, cold and worldly, seeking human approval rather than God's, and very offensive to Him yet loved enough to be awakened to zealous repentance and receiving the spiritual goods they lack or face rejection. It is a gracious call coming to believers now as a present message to the church of today, especially to professing Christians who have become so like the world that no difference can be seen, repeated as the last call to a backslidden church because God abhors indifference in religious things. Those addressed are colder and more formal in religious things, self-confident and determined to carry out their own ideas and plans, set between the counsel to buy gold tried in the fire, white raiment, and eyesalve and the promise that Christ stands at the door to come in and sup with whoever opens and to grant the overcomer to sit with Him in His throne.
The verse exposes those who say they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing while they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked, deceived about their condition, living in guilty self-deception and bankruptcy, clothed in self-righteousness and walking in self-kindled sparks. That self-sufficiency and lukewarmness is met by urging them to buy from Him gold tried in the fire which is faith and love, white raiment which is Christ's righteousness woven in heaven's loom to cover nakedness, and eyesalve which is spiritual discernment to distinguish true righteousness from self-righteousness and to see defects of character. The call to be zealous and repent is to be taken hold of now together with light brought in new settings about Christ our righteousness, answering His counsel by opening the door and every crevice of the heart to let Jesus in to sup and take possession, leading to overcoming and sitting with Him in His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father, a message for all churches with ears to hear. It is directed to people deceived about their spiritual condition and urged to recognize and turn from sin, a call to men and women upon whom the light of truth has been shining for many years to put away self-sufficiency before it is too late for them to find repentance even though they may then seek it with tears.
The verse confronts worldliness that makes professed followers cold and formal, fast losing peculiarity and simplicity and imitating the fashions of the world, with pride in dress such as ruffles and bonnets covered with bows and ribbons as the index to pride in the heart showing the lukewarm condition. It confronts pride, love of fashion, covetousness and love of earthly wealth, love of amusement, selfishness with self uncrucified, self-love and self-deception and neglect of fellow believers, hardness of heart and lack of brotherly love, and loss of first love that leaves service without value and good qualities undermined. God is now proving, testing and trying His professed people to develop character, to bring out what is in the heart, and to separate the precious from the vile and purify them from the world and the evil passions of the heart. Heeding the faithful and true Witness in earnest repentance, reproof and obedience is the only way to escape being spued out of His mouth, for the spewing out does not happen until this proving is finished; those who obey remain as a pure and holy, self-denying, cross-bearing people, while those who choose their own way and will not repent will be left behind.
The verse confronts spiritual pride, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency and blindness, hardness and unjust self-righteous spirit, calling for its breaking, for despising self, and for return to Christ rather than harshness and criticism toward one another. It confronts a religion of faultfinding and criticism and obstructing the Spirit of God, standing in judgment on God's messengers and working on Satan's side while claiming to believe the truth, with caviling and gossip over one another, envy, evil-surmising and circulating false reports even in the churches. Such warnings and invitations must no longer be met with cold indifference, nor turned aside with the thought that they belong to others or that one is in fairly good spiritual condition, for those who reason so are the very ones to whom the message belongs. Repentance means coming under the molding influence of the Holy Spirit, leaving Satan's leadership and choosing the Lord's side with decided response, weeping confession and prayer, earnestly seeking precious gold of character and willingly admitting Jesus so His image is reflected and an intensity of love is created, or withdrawing as bodies of death, for it is life or death and now is the day of opportunity.
The verse confronts professed believers who profess to serve Christ while denying Him in life, who do not follow the teaching of the Word and are ignorant of their true condition, who are not thoroughly converted, whose religion is only a form and whose lives do not please God. Its warning applies to church members who have neglected duty and lost precious time that could have been used to win souls, who claim to be God's children but are blinded by worldliness and self-exaltation, who have a name to live while dead and dishonor their profession by false paths against light. Christ's admonition is kind and faithful and given in love, and they may choose to respond and share in salvation; if they refuse, they will be rejected, for God's pity is tender but His Spirit will not keep striving forever and mercy's voice will cease, leaving the unrepentant to their own ways and consequences.
In one early application the Laodiceans rebuked are nominal first-day Adventists lost in fog, unable to tell where they are, with terrible fear and anguish of spirit taking hold of them, brought into close quarters and daring hardly to admit that the door is shut. They refused victory by looking to the meek and lowly Pattern and shutting the eyes to everything but the present, saving truth, though called to make a struggle to obtain victory by zealous repentance and fighting the good fight of faith. They ascribed God's work to Satan, saying the shut door was of the devil, which is the sin against the Holy Ghost by ascribing to Satan what belongs to God and what the Holy Ghost has done, standing against their own lives unto death because to admit it is against their own life. Though they will make a mighty effort, they will not get the victory, for one who has the truth will chase a thousand and two will put ten thousand to flight.
The verse exposes those addressed in Revelation 3:14-22 who think themselves clothed with the garments of righteousness while unfit for the marriage supper of the Lamb, wearing only the dress of a civilian. That Laodicean condition is shown by boastful speech offensive to God, works that bring glory to men rather than to God, acting without the leading of the Spirit of God, and threatening to bring the law against opposers.
Nearby Counsel and Promises
Revelation 3:19 stands in the midst of Christ's counsel to Laodicea, calling the lukewarm to repent zealously and receive what they lack or face rejection. On one side is the counsel to buy from Him gold tried in the fire, white raiment, and eyesalve, and on the other is the promise that He stands at the door and knocks to come in and sup with whoever opens. The gold is faith and love and true riches of character, the white raiment is Christ's righteousness covering nakedness and shame, and the eyesalve is spiritual discernment to distinguish true righteousness from self-righteousness and to see spiritual need. Those addressed are professed followers who have become worldly, cold and formal, who say they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing while they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, without the robe of righteousness and unready to meet Him. Heeding the faithful and true Witness, repenting zealously, and receiving that provision opens the door to fellowship with Him.
The call to be zealous and repent leads to overcoming and to sitting with Christ in His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father in His throne. All who have an ear must hear this as what the Spirit says to the churches. Escape from being spued out comes by following this counsel with simplicity, humility of mind and contrition of soul, opening the door when He knocks so He will come in and sup together. Zealous repentance also opens the way to being clothed in white raiment, keeping the name in the book of life, and having Christ confess the name before the Father and angels. Only those thus sanctified through truth will make up the royal family in the heavenly homes prepared for those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Those who refuse to repent will be spued out of His mouth, renounced and rejected, and left destitute of His presence and of true riches while still claiming in self-righteousness to be rich. Becoming lukewarm removes favor as surely as open falling, and professed commandment-keepers with no more vitality and consecration than nominal churches will receive plagues just as surely as churches that oppose the law. The lukewarm condition joins scenes of amusement and fellowship with worldlings in darkness, and love therefore calls for leaving self-strength and worldly company and working no longer under the great deceiver. Judgment comes according to works upon those who go on in sin instead of heeding while mercy and warning are proclaimed.
Repentance here means true conversion of the whole man. The one reproved must become a truly changed person, rid of selfishness, returned to God with all the heart, returned to first love and first works, watchful to strengthen the things that remain and holding fast what was received and heard. It means knowing just where one stands, having the heart of stone broken and awakened, feeling His converting power, and bringing the fragrance of His life into the life to represent the great I AM. It means leaving off caviling and gossip, earnestly seeking precious gold of character, willingly admitting Jesus so His image is reflected in the soul and an intensity of love is created. It means opening the door and every crevice of the heart so Christ will come in and fellowship, the Holy Spirit will come in and abide, Satan will be expelled from the soul temple, and the pardoned one will become a witness and laborer together with God in warning and saving the world.
Present Church Application
The rebuke belongs to a message sent to the church of the present day, especially to professing Christians who have become so like the world that no difference can be seen, and to Seventh-day Adventists who have had great light, large opportunities and sacred trust as depositaries of law and eternal truth yet have not walked in the light or kept in step with their Leader. It is God's message for the churches now, showing that correction and discipline are love striving to be recognized by the Holy Spirit, calling for an end to caviling and gossip and for earnest seeking of gold of character, opening the door to Christ so His image is reflected and intensity of love is created. Those addressed are without the robe of righteousness and unready to meet Him if He came today, yet loved and chastened to make them zealous and repentant, with promise to come in and sup with whoever opens and to grant the overcomer to sit with Him in His throne even as He overcame and sat with His Father, which all with an ear must hear as what the Spirit says to the churches.
The loving correction does not make the church Babylon, does not call God's people out of her, blot out her existence, or break her up, but is spoken warnings under the Spirit declaring the whole counsel of God to individual members in order to restore and heal all backslidings. Its purpose is zeal and repentance so each one who opens the door receives the richest blessings from Christ coming in, lest the unrepentant be spewed out of His mouth. The chastened church is kept to do its work as salt of the earth and light of the world, living messengers to proclaim a living message in the last days, while wheat and tares grow together until angels separate at harvest.
It is the last gracious call to repentance made to a backslidden church that has grown colder, more formal, self-confident and determined to carry out its own ideas, since God abhors indifference in religious things. The call forces decision whether to heed and turn with wholehearted zeal rather than half-heartedness while the third angel's message, the last message of mercy and last warning to a fallen world, is being proclaimed, or to go on in sin and receive plagues as surely as opposing churches, for only those sanctified through truth will make up the royal family in the heavenly homes prepared for those who love Him and keep His commandments. It is truth for this time to be given now with distinct evidence, calling for humble repentance to receive pardon and save the soul from death, because repentance has become mixed with hay, wood and stubble bringing wrong works and underhand dealing while talking principle, and every evil work is coming into judgment.
It is an earnest warning to prepare to meet the Lord in the clouds with power and great glory, confronting indifference to foretold signs that show the end right upon us, given while a most trying time is ahead and thickening perils will increase until the close of history. It is given for these last days to keep minds from confusion, because Satan works in all deceivableness to deceive if possible the very elect, and confusion now may be of death unto death amid scoffing, calamity and deception.
It was made known by Christ Himself to John on Patmos as part of Revelation 3, the last testimony to the churches, whose every word must be studied by those watching for souls as those who must give account. The chapter portrays church history to the end of time with symbols of God's professed people, portrays the spiritual life of many, holds out precious promises to the overcomer, and shows Christ weighing every thought, word and act, with special force from its first verses through the whole. It therefore charges ministers and doctors in every place under the Holy Spirit to give the watchman's message in clear tones to guard every outpost, so no soul passes into uncertainty or is led on in wrong until caught to perish in confusion, and to rouse themselves and not remain stubborn in unbelief, while warning against men arising with claimed new light whose theories would destroy faith in truths tested for half a century. The counsel in Revelation 3:18-22 holds that Christ's righteousness is the only garment that will do, requiring those with light on Bible truth to stay awake, advance with opening providence, and keep that garment.
The message belongs to the church in Los Angeles and to churches generally, calling for a deep work of grace to awake and arouse, practice professed truth, give the unconverted evidence of heavenly origin, and do the given work. It requires the church in Monterey to arise and zealously repent of lukewarmness, backslidings and indifferent carelessness so the Lord is glorified, with thorough repentance and correction of displeasing things, because repeated warnings produced only temporary effect and sliding back for want of sensing danger, and those who will not repent will be spewed out. It applies likewise to Oakland and Berkeley, to Battle Creek, to camp-meetings held in a tame way, to schools and sanitariums, and to the Medical Missionary Association in a Laodicean condition not accepted by God and failing to prepare people for a sound experience to stand the judgment.
It applies to those in responsible places in publishing work who weaken its influence by using presses to print deceiving errors and false science like Satan's deception of Adam and Eve, acting as the enemy's helping hand and sowing ruinous seeds, proving paralyzed sense of sacredness, feeble pulse, perverted taste, corrupted discernment, lukewarm indifference, lack of spiritual mindedness, failure to guard God's honor, spiritual blindness unable to distinguish sacred from common, nauseating to God and in danger of rejection unless they repent. It is addressed to those in charge of publishing houses who brought objectionable matter injuring souls, dishonoring God, wasting money on unneeded presses, and marring the work by worldly methods, unchristlike spirit and sanctioned deception, who are on losing ground and cannot be blessed while refusing to humble proud spirits in obedience, and must examine themselves, pity their souls, see their error and repent.
It is a personal warning to one whose position is perilous, who will have no future blessedness and will lose his soul if remaining where he is, calling to return to first love and first works, be converted, watch and strengthen what remains, hold fast what was received and heard, then labor with God in warning and saving the world, opening the way to overcoming, white raiment, retention in the book of life, confession before the Father and angels, supping with Christ, and sitting with Him in His throne. It took in hand the case of J. E. White in mistakes over borrowing large sums and engaging in speculations, dealing in love and compassion for the tempted and erring to correct and restore, not to reject, so brethren must not impair his usefulness, misjudge motives, withhold confidence, or blame and discourage him to despair and bitterness, but give sympathy, compassion and tenderness while he bears correction without rebellion and seeks to acknowledge and correct mistakes. It faithfully describes the case of Dr. Kellogg, calling proud and careless ministers and stubborn holders of false theories to be zealous, repent, turn back, be thoroughly converted and sanctified by truths taught, though admitting mistakes is very difficult for him. It calls an individual member to turn from lukewarmness, inconsistencies and overbearing dictatorial spirit unlike Christ, bringing way and will into obedience to save the soul and cease weakening the church with unconsecrated perversity, and it likewise exposes those who construe the burning of the Sanitarium after their own ideas and act as Job's comforters searching to condemn, whose faultfinding proves their own Laodicean need to repent, as well as a church injurer like a granite wall and leaders needing severe chastisement to break deception.
Calamity such as the sweeping away of the Sanitarium by fire is manifest token of displeasure given as admonition, reproof, rebuke and punishment, proving love and not forsaking, since God rebukes and permits disaster to save and correction must never cause discouragement. Loss can be mercy, exposing unsafe condition and hidden defects by allowing property to be destroyed when no one is aboard so lives otherwise lost are preserved, revealing a God of mercy and pitying tenderness working for good even when unperceived, whose loving-kindness is discerned in sacrificing property while sparing life. The affliction must not pass unheeded but be studied to learn why punishment came, leading every soul connected with the work to earnest self-examination and discernment of departure from God, with humble turning from the wrong way to God's way, lest neglected rebuke be followed by still sterner punishment.
It belongs to the highest education that can be given, coming from God Himself, to be read together with the law pronounced in awful grandeur from Sinai and with Revelation 5.
Receiving or Rejecting Message
The counsel must be taken not as human opinion but as God's own word operating powerfully in those who believe, and where it is treated as merely human and held in doubt both message and messenger lose power over mind and heart and leave hearers in darkness. It is to be pondered and prayed over so believers become strong in the Lord and understand His will, and every word of the third chapter is to be studied by those who watch for souls as those who must give account. It is to be given in clear decided tones under the Holy Spirit as a watchman's warning that guards every outpost, permits no soul to drift into uncertainty or be led on in wrong until caught to perish in confusion, lest their blood be required of unfaithful watchmen, and therefore ministers and physicians everywhere are charged to rouse from stubborn unbelief. It calls hearers, especially students, to recognize a right side and a wrong side and to stand for the right even when the majority as in Noah's day choose the wrong, even when the world under Satan sustains and popularizes sin and transgression of God's law, which does not weaken one principle of Jehovah. There is danger in loosening hold on what was heard and learned from the Source of all light, so the platform of truth must be held fast without loosening a pin or removing a pillar, for human interpretations and received fables spoil faith, confuse understanding, and make faith in Christ of no effect. Wherever Providence opens the way the message is to be proclaimed plainly now by messengers, presenting the true lukewarm yet self-satisfied condition before the church.
The solemn counsel of the faithful Witness is straight testimony that produces a shaking among God's people, and the destiny of the church hangs upon how it is received. Received, it works upon the heart to produce deep repentance, leads to exalting the standard and pouring forth plain truth, and all who truly receive it obey it and are purified. Resisted, it is risen against and not borne, and that opposition and division causes the shaking which continues and will grow greater as the message does its searching work now. The testimony has been lightly esteemed if not entirely disregarded and not half heeded, yet it must work deep repentance.
Mercy grants time for excitement and fear to wear off, for character to develop and be weighed, while angels patiently wait to mark growth in moral worth. Rebuking, chastening, testing of character and rejection of the lukewarm are the Lord's own work, not work for ministers or believers to seize into their own hands by hurried excitable demands to close the work at once, by pushing off all who fall short of a human standard, or by refusing association with those supposed to be rejected and thus running ahead of the angels. The proving and trying of professed people to separate and purify them from pride, love of fashion and evil passions of the heart must finish before rejection comes, so that those who obey remain as a pure holy self-denying cross-bearing people while those who choose their own way and will not repent are left behind. The message is designed to expose backsliding, to call for examination of heart, confession and deep humility to purify sins that long shut out Jesus, and thus to favor with His presence and fit for the loud cry of the third angel, a work not done in a few short months. It has accomplished less because of hardness of heart and because many lost its effect when no powerful work appeared quickly, yet God has given it time and it will do its work, even now blessing efforts that have brought many from error and darkness to rejoice in truth, and where fully heeded God works in greater power. The delay tests whether obedience springs from principle and faith rather than feeling or fear, whether cherished idols are overcome step by step, and whether the latter rain and translation are prepared for.
The rebuke becomes necessary to salvation when those who have had truth and know God's requirements fail to heed light in His Word, enter temptation, and miss their danger and Satan's working, and the call is to zeal and repentance rather than feeling ill-treated, finding fault with message and messenger, pitying self, and walking in self-counsel. Those in danger must not rise against reproof, grow jealous of the reprover, or dissect and discount what God sends, but receive it with thankfulness that they were not left to blindness and hardness, reform, seek God, find Him, and turn earnestly from sin. Murmuring against straight testimony does not remove sin or prepare for judgment, and those who claim to follow while unconverted and refusing to repent will face shame and be unable to defend their deeds. The message is not smooth reassurance that members are nearly right or were reproved without cause, but plain reproof exposing prevailing sin and lack of Bible humility, patience, faith, love, self-denial, watchfulness, sacrifice, holiness and obedience to all requirements. It is personally meant for each one and not uncalled for, yet many do not receive it but cling to doubts and darling sins while insisting they need nothing, and those who think it means others and not themselves most need grace and discernment to discover spiritual deficiency, gain practical Bible truth leading to lowliness and conformity of will to Christ, and maintain by constant effort victory step by step as God leads on.
Heeded with humbled contrite heart the call breaks Satan's hold over captives led at his will, for repentance and confession are the Spirit's work, and everything turns on hearing the voice as Jesus and opening to it. Then Satan suffers defeat, Christ gains victory in the conflict He and Satan wage with all heaven watching, and angels rejoice with anthems over another heart conquered by mercy and love. The appeal is a plea from the Redeemer and only hope, not merely a warning from ministers or prophets, given in tender pity and longing to save from self unto mercy, pardon and final salvation, yet those who refuse to come and do His word are responsible, for the power that saves is also strong to punish. Received and acknowledged as truth the message becomes a savor of life unto life, transforming critics in home and church who sowed doubt, unbelief and accusation, paid no tithes and gave no offerings, into kind tender helpers yoked with Christ in partnership through unreserved surrender to the Spirit, while treated with self-justification and criticism of message and messenger it becomes a savor of death unto death. Refused, it leaves the merely formal professor whose life does not please God to be rejected and thrust out as disgusting, with pity still tender but the Spirit at last grieved away, mercy's voice heard no more, and the unrepentant left to their own ways and doings unto disappointment, ruin and loss of heaven when all are rewarded according to works around the great white throne.
No one should wait for special feeling before surrendering, but want God at the very commencement, and as soon as rejection of God is seen come at once, acknowledge it and redeem the time, showing by personal response to the infinite sacrifice what will be done, for none will be placed in heaven with the mold of self-will. It is not too late to save the soul, but there is a soul to save or a soul to lose, so all are called into closer relation with God, to wrestle for immortality and the life measuring with God's life, to obtain the eternal weight of glory promised every overcomer, to come out and be separate and touch not the unclean, to walk humbly and contritely so He will revive and help, to prize the gift of Christ, and to get ready at once for coming in the clouds very soon to be met in peace. While He serves as priest in the heavenly sanctuary pardon remains available, so the rebuked should own demerits and acknowledge justice even in humiliating chastisement, diligently seek pardon with zealous repentance, and not falsify God and His ministers as hard, for faithful ministers must deal plainly and closely. Churches that know the faith yet have not made required changes must humble themselves and repent sincerely with changed attitude, and this will bring awakening and renewed love for Christ. The third chapter given to John on Patmos must now be carefully studied, prayed over for God to reveal its import, and thanked for as present mercy, guarding against claims of new light whose theories would destroy faith in truths tested for half a century and against false theories about God that nullify the plain word and end in treating the whole Bible as fiction, lest neglect harden the heart.
Living Out Repentance
Repentance under this verse is strictly individual work, each person zealous to repent for his own wrongs and to care for his own soul rather than repenting for a brother or sister. It forbids taking up watching of others to decide whether they are zealous enough or moving fast enough, being burdened to reprove and bear down upon brethren and bind burdens upon them. That course of correcting others instead of attending to one's own conscience brings darkness and leaves a man in worse condition than those he reproves, neglecting his own soul while trying to keep brethren straight. The call requires careful self-searching, searching the heart, correcting the evil in self, leaving the tangled mass of watching and faulting others, dwelling on the great principles of faith, looking away from each other to Jesus as pattern rather than measuring by each other or exalting one's own judgment as unerring. It is to be taken hold of by each for himself, throwing away mere feeling, feeling destitution, buying gold to be rich, eyesalve to see, and white raiment to be clothed, acting on individual responsibility while relying wholly upon God.
The response commanded is heartfelt confession of sins to God and to one another, humbling pride and the hard unjust self-righteous spirit, opening eyes to the true wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked condition beneath the claim to be rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing. No one is to be too proud for heartfelt confession, with those of influence leading, confessing disunion and lack of love, asking forgiveness of one another face to face, weeping together and reconciling, going to those against whom there is grievance, praying for one another, abandoning strife and alienation. Refusing to confess reveals a closed heart, while obeying brings earnest prayer with tears, deep heart work, close examination of heart, purifying the heart from sins that long shut out Jesus, and deep humility before God. Where fully heeded this produces the presence of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit, confession spreading through the whole congregation, praise and rejoicing as at Pentecost continuing till nearly morning, proving heaven waits to be gracious when His people humble themselves.
Repentance is then believed and acted out, righting every known wrong that can be righted, confessing every known sin and doing what can be done on the human part, then taking God at His word that He accepts and receives. It is not going mourning but seeking diligently, believing because He is faithful who promised, climbing up by faith and not by feeling, with confidence resting not on personal worthiness or feelings but on Jesus' worthiness and cleansing blood. Believing is itself part of the work, the way for one who feels down and does not know how to arise to rise, move understandingly, drink of God's salvation, and have confidence before God and one another. This zeal must be shown in life and before others, especially children whose salvation is shaped by parental example, prizing personal salvation and that of loved ones enough to make sacrifice, cut loose from the world and separate from it, live as men waiting for their Lord, sell what is owned, give alms, lay up treasure in heaven, surrender at the beginning of reform without waiting for special feeling, and make the most of time in character building for heaven.
Zeal here means earnest, whole-souled, self-sacrificing labor with wide-awake purpose, because God's people live far below privilege and must show in all public labor that they seek things above where Christ sits at God's right hand. It is determined effort to overcome worldly and selfish love and become consecrated, devoted Christians whose lives show tender warmth and love, replacing indifference, idleness and sloth with renewed energy and vigilant action. It calls for untiring missionary effort while time is short, redeeming neglected duty and lost time that could have won souls, warning the world, using every ability, putting on the whole armor of God and calling on angels that excel in strength lest faith be eclipsed by fierceness of conflict. God's commandment-keeping people ought always to be thus zealous, not failing nor discouraged, realizing eternal vigilance is the price of safety, for continued indifference and sloth end in loss of personal religion and of heaven amid increasing dangers and Satan working with great power and all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
This repentance begins at once in the home and reforms daily life, correcting neglected duties and refusing to remain in the Laodicean condition. Parents are to confess neglect of duty to children, accept responsibility, diligently teach and guide them, show true colors, keep conversation pure and elevating, be aroused and converted so sanctification shines in clear distinct rays. Lukewarmness to be cured is neglecting religious services and prayer meetings, laying aside spiritual garments, failing to keep lamps trimmed and burning and to reflect God's light and glory, letting religion become mere form with very low spiritual temperature, having a name to live while dead. It is treating the Sabbath as mere rest from physical labor rather than a sweet foretaste of the Sabbath above, meeting in Sabbath assemblies to sing assigned songs with effort but not from the heart, lacking Christ's joy, meekness and humility. To repent is to arise from lethargy, put away self-complacency, be stirred by heart-searching gospel truths that bring conviction, engage in personal labor, go forth with evangelistic spirit to invigorate others with gospel hope, humbling self, confessing sins, drawing near to God with assurance He will draw near, fearing to continue in transgression because the great day of salvation has come.
True conversion under this rebuke is unfinished while self remains uncrucified, while self-love, self-deception, hardness of heart and neglect of fellow believers undermine good qualities. The correction is meant to turn selfish love into unselfish love from Jesus, manifesting Christ's Spirit in meekness and lowliness, treating those holding differing views with fairness, making no false statements or false witness, loving God supremely and neighbor as self. It demands thorough reformation that purges sin and restores favor, turning from backsliding, from neglecting received light and privileges, from professing truth without practicing it, to genuine pure Christianity and whole-hearted obedience to all God's commandments, since obedience brings salvation and disobedience ruin. Overcoming comes only as Christ overcame, by obedience that acts not by halves, with all Christian graces cherished together forming a beautiful symmetrical character able to stand unflinching when tested, lest the candle be put out and the faithful take the place of those refusing to shine.
Heeding the correction brings Christ coming in to the opened door with richest blessing, the Holy Spirit coming in and abiding in the soul temple, Satan expelled, strife healed, and power given to become sons of God. It brings revival of a feeble fragmentary church that had great light and many privileges yet remained feeble and inefficient, making it burning and shining lights practicing Bible principles through asking for the Holy Spirit. It brings cleansing of character pictured as white garments washed in the Lamb's blood and gold refined in fire, sins blotted out, peace, pardon, and witness, whereas blessings are withdrawn and light has little effect when testimonies are not heeded and men choose their own way because self is not crucified.