Revelation 3:14

Revelation 3:14. The seventh church addressed is that or Laodicea, an important and wealthy city not very far from Philadelphia. The chief interest of Laodicea, apart from that lent to it by the fact that it was one of the seven cities addressed in the Apocalypse, arises from its connection with the history of St. Paul. That apostle had not indeed founded the church there, nor at the time at least when he wrote the Epistle to the Colossians had he visited the city (Colossians 2:1), but he cherished a lively affection for its Christian inhabitants, and anxiously sought to promote their welfare (Colossians 4:16). It is probable that the New Testament Epistle, known as the Epistle to the Ephesians, was primarily intended for the Gentile Christians of Laodicea and the neighbouring towns.

Again we are first met by a description of the exalted Redeemer, which cannot be said to be taken directly from any part of the description of the Son of man contained in chap. 1. It seems rather to be composed of characteristics selected for their suitableness to the closing Epistle of the Seven. The Lord is the Amen. The appellation is no doubt taken from Isaiah 65:16, where the words of the Authorised Version, ‘the God of truth,' fail adequately to represent the original. The Lord is rather there named ‘Amen;' and the meaning of the name here is not that the Divine promises shall be accomplished by Him to whom it is given, but that He is Himself the fulfilment of all that God has spoken to His churches.

Again, He is the faithful and true witness. His work is to be a witness of God, and in that work He has been perfectly ‘faithful,' absolutely ‘true.' Once more He is the beginning of the creation of God, not merely the first and highest of all creatures,

a view entirely out of keeping with what is said of our Lord in the Apocalypse, but the principle, the initial force, to which the ‘creation' of God owes its origin. More doubt may be entertained as to what the ‘creation' here referred to is, whether the material creation in all its extent or the new creation, the Christian Church, that redeemed humanity which has its true life in Christ. The former is the view generally taken, but the third term of the description thus fails to correspond with the first two which undoubtedly apply to the work of redemption, while at the same time the subjoined words ‘of God' become meaningless or perplexing. Add to this that in chap. Revelation 1:5, immediately after Jesus had been called the ‘faithful Witness,' He had also been described as the ‘first-begotten of the dead' (see note there), and we shall hardly be able to resist the conclusion that, if the whole creation be alluded to, it is only as redeemed, in its final condition of rest and glory, when the new Jerusalem has descended from heaven, and the enemies of the Church have been cast into the lake of fire (comp. Romans 8:21-22; James 1:18). The three predicates thus form an appellation peculiarly appropriate, not so much to the church at Laodicea considered alone, as to the last church addressed in these Epistles. We have already seen that the first Epistle, that to Ephesus, has a general as well as a special character. A similar remark is applicable now. Christ is the ‘Amen' of the whole counsel of God: He is the ‘Wit-ness' who has faithfully and completely exhibited His truth; He is the source and spring of that new creation which is called into being according to His will.