The Purpose of the Message to Laodicea

The message to the angel of the Laodicean church is the last in a series of God's revelations for specific historical periods. And this Message contains the most terrible warning from Christ, which has power and will ultimately bring to fulfillment this sad verdict announced by the Faithful and True Witness.

God does not cast His words to the wind but long-suffers with His people, giving each of us time to prepare. This message is spoken so that it is directed personally to me and touches my heart, but at the same time, the Lord desires to personally awaken the heart of each of His sons and daughters to a deeper investigation of internal processes. The Lord seeks to bring us all to unity of faith, to transform our character into the likeness of Christ, to teach us to love one another, and plans to make us wise in His eyes, so that in this state He may reveal to us the blessings of His personal presence among us and prepare us to proclaim the loud cry of the third angel.

The message to Laodicea, described in Revelation 3:14-22, is very short and can be read in one minute by superficially familiarizing oneself with its contents. But this message is deep. To understand and accept its essence and make it all one's own, not just one month will pass, but many years of revival and character transformation will go by, so that the soul may be cleansed from all idols and sinful thoughts that my carnal nature so cherishes.

God tests me and shows my heart the true motives that influence decision-making and hinder the Holy Spirit from forming my character in the likeness of Christ's character.

God's Salvation Plan includes preparing a special group of people through whom He will complete the history of this world and proclaim the most terrible warning through the third angel. Without accepting revelations from the Message to Laodicea, such revival will be impossible. God will not send "lukewarm Christians" to carry the most formidable message to the world, as this message will testify against them. But a passionate heart will be prepared by God for any events and will fulfill any God's commission, regardless of how complex it may seem.

Understanding and accepting the symbols of the Faithful Witness's Message requires a lot of time, and this is part of God's plan to sift out everything superficial and proud, leaving only those who will not be discouraged by God's delay and procrastination but will persistently work, acquiring everything offered by the Lord and growing from glory to glory.

God will honor with His presence all people who will not drop their hands and will be faithful in buying Heavenly gold, white clothing, and eye salve.

If we knew exactly that we had little time left, for example, a year, and then everything would end with the Second Coming, I think our preparation would be more effective, the Message to Laodicea would have a more powerful effect, and the presence of the Holy Spirit would be more visible and tangible. All this will happen at the very end, and the last will become first, as written, but it is precisely today that God calls you, friend, to step on this path and step by step implement God's plan of transforming your character. It is in such a consistent approach to this task that genuine motives are revealed, true values and goals are determined, and the mind is prepared for sealing and establishing in truth.

During natural cataclysms and adverse weather conditions, it is very difficult to engage in construction. It is precisely during such a period that the most rigorous test of everything that was built occurs. The storm of final events approaches, and it is inevitable. We will all have to enter it, but we do not know when, so we tend to be distracted from the main goal and settle down in this world, considering Babylon our permanent residence.

The purpose of the Message to Laodicea is God's desire to attach us all to Himself through constant acquisition of what He advises us to buy from Him. He seeks to preserve us in these relationships until our very last breath on this earth or until the closing of the time of grace for this world.

If I believe that by buying goods from the Faithful Witness, I will have time to prepare for the final events and will definitely enter them fully armed by God, then I may risk cooling down and becoming discouraged because these events may not occur during my lifetime, and my preparation will be a futile waste of time and effort. There is nothing worse than stopping in one's race just before the finish line and crying about being deceived with a promise of victory that never came.

I become a victor at the moment when I agree to accept God's offer to exit my miserable lukewarm state. Even if I have not yet managed to change anything in my life but have stepped onto the path of eternal trading relationships with Christ, His grace will be sufficient to cover all my shortcomings and gradually free me from them. If, however, I am focused on receiving the expected reward and persistently move toward this goal, believing that God will intervene and achieve the final victory any moment now, and the desired does not come, then I become increasingly tired of this struggle and eventually completely weaken and become discouraged with everything I strived for. I stop. In this case, my past experience of training and victories will be insufficient to reach the goal and receive the promised.

In accepting the Message to Laodicea, it is very important to understand that God invites me into relationships that should never be interrupted. Although they are characterized as trading, they are much deeper than they seem to a new listener. The purpose of the message is to attach me to Jesus forever and preserve my soul in this union, guiding me through such relationships throughout my entire life.

God has established times and terms for certain events, and in their time they will come and be fulfilled. If I am ready, my readiness will be relevant both today and at any other time. Nothing will catch me by surprise, although it may surprise me with its speed and transience. If I am a "wicked and lazy servant," I will always find thousands of excuses for my ignorance and various occupations in the world and even in God's work, except for what the Faithful Witness offers.

Approaching the acceptance of light for the Laodicean period, one should tune in to a lifelong study of this very message. It will not become clear immediately. Its entire depth will not open up at once, but everything offered in it will make my life better, of higher quality, more blessed, and more interesting than before.

Relationships with God bring much light, love, joy, and happiness into my life. And this is so overwhelming that I want everyone to quickly acquire it and become the happiest in God's family.

God desires that His faithful buyers learn to trade in heavenly gold among themselves, enriching each other with mutual love, and in such spending of time prepare for the coming events, having the right spirit and constant experience of development in love, friendliness, and happiness, and readiness to fulfill any God's mission.

Supplement to Reflection on this Lesson. Testimonies for the Church. Volume 1:

It was shown to me that the testimony to the Laodiceans relates to God's children living at the present time, but it has not fulfilled its important purpose due to the hardening of their hearts. However, God gave this message time to eventually accomplish its work. The heart must be cleansed from sins that have long obscured Jesus. This terrible message will ultimately fulfill its work. When it was first presented, people began to carefully examine their hearts, confess sins, and God's people everywhere were deeply moved. Almost everyone believed that this message would end with the loud cry of the third angel. But as the brothers and sisters did not see impressive events in the following years, the message did not have the proper impact on many. I saw that it could not fulfill its purpose in just a few short months. The message was given to do the following: awaken God's people, reveal their apostasy, and bring them to zealous repentance, so that Jesus might then honor them with His presence and prepare them for the loud cry of the third angel. When this message reached hearts, it led them to deep humility before God. Angels were sent in all directions to prepare unbelieving hearts to accept the truth. God's work began to rise, and His people recognized their condition. If the counsel of the Faithful Witness had been fully accepted, God would have worked more purposefully for His people. Nevertheless, the Lord blessed the efforts made after the proclamation of the message, and many souls were brought out of darkness and error and now rejoice in the truth. – {1T 186.1}

God will test His children. Jesus long-suffers with them and does not instantly cast them out of His mouth. The angel said: "God weighs His people." If this message had acted for a short time, as some of us supposed, God's children would not have had even an hour to perfect their character. Many people began to do something not from principle and not by faith, but out of fear, because this solemn, terrible message seriously troubled them. It affected their feelings and aroused fear in them but did not accomplish the work intended for it by God. God reads hearts. So that His children would not deceive themselves, He gives them time for the general excitement to pass and then tests them to see if they will obey the counsel of the Faithful Witness.

God leads His people step by step. He places them in different situations to reveal what lies in the people's hearts. Some people endure one test but fall at the next. With each subsequent step, the Lord sends increasingly serious checks and tests of the heart. When God's children see that their hearts resist such a direct call, this should convince them that they still need to get rid of something if they do not want to be cast out of the Lord's mouth. The angel said: "God will act more and more decisively to test and examine each person in His people." Some people endure one test, but when God brings them to the next, they become frightened and withdraw because they do not want to give up some cherished idol. At this stage, they are given the opportunity to see what particular idol is driving Jesus out of their hearts. Something is more important to such people than the truth, and their hearts are not ready to accept Jesus. – {1T 186-187}

Reflection Questions for this Chapter

1. Please read Revelation 3:14-22; 1 John 3:23; Isaiah 28:10; 30:18; Luke 18:7-8; 2 Peter 3:9-10; Hebrews 10:35-39; Proverbs 1:29-33; Ephesians 5:15-18 in light of this chapter.

2. What did you understand from this chapter?

3. What other Bible verses came to your mind?

4. How long do you plan to study the Message to Laodicea?

5. Does the Faithful Witness offer anything short-term and temporary in the Message to Laodicea?

6. How does the Message to Laodicea sound to a superficial reader and to someone who follows Jesus' counsels?

7. What prevents a person from tuning into constant relationships with God?

8. Have you already tasted the beauty and power of the Laodicean Message?

9. Why does the Lord not reveal the essence of the Message to Laodicea all at once?

10. How much time is needed for character transformation?

11. Are you discouraged by the fact that the Lord does not manifest obvious supernatural miracles in the lives of those who enter into trading relationships with Him?

12. Do you like the Message to Laodicea?

13. What is this Message about?

14. How important is this Message to you?

15. What should you do if you hear this Message for the first time?