Revelation 3:22

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

 ·        It is a proverbial expression, implying that the highest attention should be given to what was spoken  (Barnes)

·        Anything serious, and of great importance, was delivered; and which required attention, and was not easily understood:  (Gills)

·        The demand for universal attention (MH)

 Isaiah 48:16  “Come near to Me, hear this:  I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there.  And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit have sent Me.”

 

Zechariah 7:12  “Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.  Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.

 

Revelation 3:21

 “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

·         This promise is offered to all Christians in the Millennium (Rev. 5:10; 11:15; 20:4). Jesus promised the apostles that they would eat and drink with Him and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt. 19:28; Lk. 22:29-30).

·         This distinguishes between two thrones, Jesus’ and the Father's; the Father’s Throne is in heaven and Jesus’ Throne will be on earth as the son of David (Ps. 122:5; Ezek. 43:7; Lk. 1:32). Jesus’ earthly Throne is turned over to the Father at the end of the Millennium (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

 Psalm 110:1  The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

Revelation 3:20

 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

·         Jesus continually beckons us to draw near to His heart as He patiently waits for us. Jesus can open all doors (Rev. 3:7-8) except the door of our heart.

·         To feast speaks of intimacy or deep fellowship as the Spirit tenderizes our heart to feel more of His love by increasing our revelation of Jesus and zeal for righteousness.

 Songs 5:2  I sleep, but my heart is awake; it is the voice of my beloved!  He knocks…..

 Deuteronomy 4:36  Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.

Revelation 3:19

 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.  Therefore be zealous and repent.

·        Jesus promises to discipline all of us so that we may have gold and garments that we may be rich. Jesus promises to discipline us to bring us out of passivity and self sufficiency.

·        Be radical in our resolve to make changes.

 Job 5:17  Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

 Proverbs 3:11, 12  My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction; for whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.

 

Revelation 3:18

 “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich:  and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

·        The gold of godly character makes us rich in this age by tenderizing our heart to feel more of God’s love and enlarging our desire for Him and for righteousness.

·        Righteous living results in the reward of eternal garments. Our garments begin with the gift of righteousness that is imputed to us by faith (2 Cor. 5:21).  However, here Jesus is speaking of experiential righteousness or acts of righteousness.

·        Jesus was saying that we must take action to cure our spiritually sick eyes. Only the Holy Spirit can give us revelation of Jesus and His Word. However, we can take natural steps as we take time to feed on the Word and turn our eyes away from worthless things that dull our spirit.

 Proverbs 27:21 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is valued by what others say of him.

 Isaiah 55:1 “Ho!  Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.  Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Revelation 3:17

 “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked –

·         They claimed God’s financial blessing but it turned out to injure their heart.

·         Wretched – this from the Greek words that mean “calloused and hardened.” They were calloused and spiritually dull.

·         Miserable – spiritual sickness result in loss of appetite for the Word and prayer. Believers in the “spiritual ICU” have no spiritual appetite. Hunger is a sign of recovery.

·         Poor – being spiritually deficient is opposite of being “poor in spirit” (Mt. 5:3). Many believers have nothing in their eternal bank account. How much is in yours?

·         Blind – spiritual blindness means to lack revelation of God and one’s spiritual condition. 

·         Naked – without garments in the age-to-come that express their love for Jesus in this age.

Hosea 12:8  And Epharim said, ‘Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.

Ecclesiastes 2:7-11  …..then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.  There was no profit under the sun.

Revelation 3:16

 “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth

·                            He loves them and has not lost interest in them (v. 19). Jesus’ heart was sick (or His stomach hurt) with concern about them and what they are losing in their relationship with Him. Jesus knows all the lost eternal opportunities they are missing out on.

 

·        Jesus quoted the warning of judgment seen in Lev. 18. The land of Israel was said to "vomit the people out" of the land in judgment.

 Leviticus 18:25  For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants

 Deuteronomy 32:1  Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of My mouth.

Revelation 3:15

 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot.

·        The spiritually cold are in a better position to see their great need. At least they know they are in trouble. They are easier to convert.

·        When a person feels the emptiness of a cold heart he searches for answers.

1 Samuel 8:8  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day – with which they have forsake Me and served other gods – so they are doing to you also.

Psalm 33:15 He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.

Revelation 3:14

 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:

·        What He speaks is reliable and truthful

·         He is the beginning or “first” in cause (source) and authority. The power and authority of creation “begins” with Him (Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16-17; Rev. 1:8; 21:6). He is the uncreated God like the Father and the Spirit. There was never a time they did not exist.

 Isaiah 65:16  So that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My eyes.

 Jeremiah 42:5  So they said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you.

Revelation 3:13

 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’

·        It is a proverbial expression, implying that the highest attention should be given to what was spoken  (Barnes)

·        anything serious, and of great importance, was delivered; and which required attention, and was not easily understood:  (Gills)

·        The demand for universal attention (MH)

 Isaiah 48:16  “Come near to Me, hear this:  I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there.  And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit have sent Me.”

 

Zechariah 7:12  “Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.  Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.

Revelation 3:12

  “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more, I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God.  And I will write on him My new name.

·        Not a pillar to support the temple (heaven needs no such props), but a monument of the free and powerful grace of God, a monument that shall never be defaced nor removed (MH)

·        The new name of Christ, the Mediator, the Redeemer, the captain of our salvation; by this it will appear under whose banner this conquering believer had enlisted, under whose conduct he acted, by whose example he was encouraged, and under whose influence he fought the good fight, and came off victorious. (MH)

 Psalm 87:5, 6  And of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her; and the Most High Himself shall establish her.”  The LORD will record, when He registers the peoples:  “This one was born there.”

 Isaiah 62:2  The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.  You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD will name.

Revelation 3:11

“Behold, I am coming quickly!  Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

·        See, I am just a coming to relieve them under the trial, to reward their fidelity, and to punish those who fall away; they shall lose that crown which they once seemed to have a right to, which they hoped for, and pleased themselves with the thoughts of. (MH)

·        The persevering Christian shall win the prize from backsliding professors, who once stood fair for it.’’ (MH)

 Psalm 89:39  You have renounced the covenant of Your servant; you have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.

 Lamentations 5:16  The crown has fallen from your head.  Woe to us, for we have sinned!