The church in Laodicea thinks that she is rich (v. 17). According to church history the degraded recovered assemblies boast of their spiritual riches, thinking that they are rich and thus are in spiritual pride. However, in the eyes of the Lord they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (v. 17). They boast of their riches in doctrines and knowledge but are poor in the experience of Christ. They care mainly for vain knowledge but scarcely care for the living experience of Christ. This is real poverty; it is the poverty that makes the degraded recovered church wretched and miserable. Besides, even though the church in Laodicea has some amount of knowledge about spiritual things, she does not have true spiritual insight. Thus, she is blind in genuine spiritual things. She is naked, mainly due to the lack of the subjective experience of Christ, that is, the lack of living by Christ and living out Christ to be her subjective righteousness as another splendid robe.
The Lord said to the church in Laodicea, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (v. 20). This door is not the door of the gospel but of the church. The Lord as the Head of the church is standing outside the degraded church, knocking at her door. This shows that the degraded recovered church in reality is Christless. This church has some knowledge and has the name of Christ, but there are too many objective doctrines and too little subjective truths. Hence, she does not have the subjective presence of Christ. The Lord desires that she open the door: “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me” (v. 20). The Lord desires that all the objective doctrines of the church in Laodicea would become subjective experiences so that she can dine with Him, that is, to have intimate fellowship and joy.
The Lord’s word to the church in Thyatira is a prophecy concerning the apostate Roman Catholic Church, which began with the establishment of the papal system in the latter part of the sixth century and will continue to Christ’s coming at the end of this age. The apostate church has works, love, faith, service, and endurance, and her last works are more than the first. But she mixes heathen, pagan things with the worship of God by His people. She is also a self-appointed prophetess, one who presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God. Those who commit adultery with her will suffer tribulation, and her children will be killed with death. Since the apostate church is not willing to repent of her adultery, the Lord causes her to be sick in bed until the judgment at the Lord’s coming.
The Lord’s word to the church in Sardis is a prophecy concerning the reformed church, which is the Protestant church from the time of the Reformation to the second coming of Christ. She has a name that she is living, and yet she is dead. Many things were recovered in the Reformation, such as justification by faith, the gospel of grace, and the open Bible. However, these restored things were about to die and needed to be revived. Furthermore, in the eyes of God there are no completed works in the so-called reformed church. Therefore, the Lord charged her, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and keep it and repent” (3:3).
The Lord’s word to the church in Philadelphia prophetically depicts the church of brotherly love, that is, the recovery of the proper church life, which began in the early part of the nineteenth century when brothers were raised up in England to practice the church life outside the system of sects and divisions and continues until the Lord comes back. She has kept the Lord’s word and has not denied His name. The Lord gives her an opened door and promises to keep her out of the hour of trial, which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth; that is, she will be raptured before the great tribulation.
The church in Laodicea prophetically signifies the degraded recovered church life from the nineteenth century until the Lord’s coming. The degraded recovered church is full of human opinion. She has works, but she is neither cold nor hot; hence, she is in danger of being spewed out of the Lord’s mouth. She also thinks that she is rich, but the Lord said that she is wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. This church has some knowledge and has the Lord’s name, but there are too many objective doctrines and too little subjective truths. She keeps the Lord outside her door and thus does not have the subjective presence of Christ. The Lord desires that she open the door so that He can dine with her.