The Spirit of Prophecy does not uphold the idea that the "saints" that "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12) are some nondenominated and unorganized movement. While we know that some unconverted individuals in the church will eventually be "shaken out" in the final crisis, the denomination known as Seventh-day Adventists is recognized in the writings of Ellen G. White as the prophetic "remnant church," and the supreme object of the Lord's love:
In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light-bearers. To them has been intrusted the last warning for a perishing world, … They have been given a work of the most solemn import,-the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages . . .
The most solemn truths ever intrusted to mortals have been given to us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned, and God's people are to be true to the trust committed to them. (Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 19.)
If the Seventh-day Adventist church has such a trust committed to her, it is equally true that Christ's message to Laodicea is addressed primarily to her rather than to Christendom in general, or to some splinter group within the church. But notice that when Christ calls for repentance, lie is speaking primarily not to the church at large, but to the leadership:
1. The Book of Revelation is generally addressed "unto the seven churches," but the seven messages of chapters 2 and 3 are addressed particularly to the "angels of the seven churches." There is a reason for this distinction.
2. The word "angel" means messenger (from angello, to deliver a message), and can refer either to human or heavenly "messengers." (For examples of angelos used with reference to human beings see Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:24; 9:52.) The "angels of the seven churches" cannot be literal angels in heaven because these holy beings have neither left their "first love" nor "fallen" nor "suffered Jezebel to teach" nor lived a name when "dead" nor been "lukewarm." Neither do they have occasion to "repent." Christ directed John to write to the human leadership of the seven churches, in each instance a personified leadership addressed by the second person singular pronoun, "thou."
3. Jesus Himself defines the "angels of the seven churches" as "the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand." Revelation 1:16, 20. The Spirit of Prophecy, in turn, defines the "seven stars" for us: "God's ministers are symbolized by the seven stars." "Christ's ministers are the spiritual guardians of the people entrusted to their care." Gospel Workers, pages 13, 14.
4. In the case of the seventh church we recognize the church in the last period of the Christian era in the end of time as the same as the people of Revelation 12:17 and 14:12. The Seventh-day Adventist church is in a special, unique sense the church of Laodicea. It follows that the "angel of the church of the Laodiceans" is primarily the responsible leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist church. The "angel" includes all leadership on all conference levels and the local leadership of congregations, each segment or level appropriately responsible.
Note the following comments: "'Those things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand.' These words are spoken to the teachers in the church-those entrusted by God with weighty responsibilities." (Acts of the Apostles, page 586, emphasis added. Compare Acts of the. Apostles, page 164, where "those whom God has appointed to bear the responsibilities of leadership" in the church are identified with "those in the offices that God has appointed for the leadership of His people".)
5. The way Christ has dictated the Laodicean message proves that He respects the principles of church organization. lie does not jump the lines of responsibility or go over the heads of leadership in order to appeal to the church at large. He intends that the "angel of the church" shall repent first; and then entrusts to that leadership the task of ministering the experience to the worldwide church. If this were not true, He would have addressed the message "to the church of the Laodiceans" and disregarded the "angel of the church." When Christ's plan is understood, and when His message is appreciated, far more quickly than we suppose possible an experience of contrition and reconciliation with Christ will be communicated to the worldwide church, hearts will be humbled before the Lord, and a people will be prepared for the close of probation. There is no reason why this vast task cannot be accomplished within the lifetime of the readers of this book.
Will Christ Reject Laodicea?
The Laodicean message is full of hope for the church. It is loyal. It recognizes the church as Christ's one object of supreme regard. His appeal to repent means clearly that He entertains infinite hope of success, that He fully expects His church to respond, else He would not waste His effort. His call expresses confidence in His church. Further, the time lapse of well over a century indicates His patience and long-suffering which He could not bestow upon an object which He inter led ultimately to abandon.
Some are tempted to discouragement by the words, "Because thou art lukewarm … I will spew thee out of My mouth" (Revelation 3:16). They feel that the church is so enfeebled and defective that Christ has either already fulfilled this promise and actually "spued" her out of His mouth, that is, rejected her; or that He will soon do so. In other words, they feel that the church is doomed, and this doom is just as sure and certain as is the fact that she is lukewarm. They add, "The Lord has made a definite promise; the church is lukewarm; therefore, the 'spewing out' is only a matter of time, or perhaps already accomplished."
The original language makes clear that Jesus did not say that He would indeed "spew out" His lukewarm church. What He said was, "I am about to spew thee out of My mouth" (mello se emesai). Since the apostle John wrote both the Revelation and the Gospel bearing his name, we can better understand this expression by seeing how he used the same word mello ("I am about to") in another passage. Speaking of the "nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum," John says that the son "was at the point of death" (John 4:47), using mello. What he says in plain English is that the boy was critically ill, about to die, but did not die.
What Jesus says to us in plain English is, "I am suffering acute nausea on account of your lukewarmness," or, "you make Me sick." He does not say that the spewing out is inevitable. Rather, He begs His church to "heal" His "nausea" by the only means practicable: "Be zealous, therefore, and repent."
In our denominational history movements have occasionally arisen on the assumption that Christ has already "spewed out" the leadership of His church. These result from a general misunderstanding of His call to repent. It is assumed (l) that the call to repent is for individual repentance; (2) that it has been understood; and (3) that it has been rejected. This essay presents evidence that (l) the call is to corporate and denominational repentance; (2) it has not been fully understood; and (3) it has, therefore, not been rejected, at least not finally.
If it should eventually be that Christ's call is finally rejected, the "I am about to spew thee out" would of course become "I have spewed thee out." But that great "if" is not true. It would require the failure of the Laodicean message and the final defeat of the Lord Jesus as faithful Divine lover. Everyone who is willing to concede such a defeat for Christ makes clear that he stands on the side of Satan, for Satan is determined that such a defeat must take place. Even the nagging doubt that expresses the "if" is born of unbelief. It is Satan that constantly assailed the Son of God with those barbed "ifs": "If Thou be the Son of God," "if … Thou worship me"; and at the cross, "if He be the King of Israel," "if God will have Kim." We are on Satan's side in the great struggle if we talk about "if the Bride repents and makes herself ready," or "if the church responds." That doubt of Christ's complete vindication paralyzes our devotion like nerve gas paralyzes a person's will.
The Remedy for Laodicea's Problems
Since Christ's call to repent is sent to the angel of the church, its human leadership, with the intent that the experience be ministered to the church at large, it is clear He calls for a corporate and denominational repentance.
It is denominational pride and complacency which is rebuked in the message of the True Witness. Therefore, the remedy proposed is denominational repentance. The medicine must fit the disease.
Therefore, we miss the point of the Laodicean message when we assume that the call to repent is merely for personal sin. it is true that we all as individuals have sins and weaknesses for which we should repent. For example, we may battle for the. victory over an evil temper, perverted appetite, love of amusement, pride of dress, or sensuality. An infinite list of personal sins could be compiled. But the point of the Lord's appeal in Revelation 3 is that as a church and, more particularly as church leadership, we are guilty of denominational sin.
This sin is specifically (1) denominational pride ("Thou sayest, I am rich and I have been enriched"); (2) denominational complacency ("Thou sayest, I have need of nothing"); (3) denominational self-deception ("Thou knowest not that thou art wretched"); and (4) denominational assumptions of success which are not divinely validated ("Thou art miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked").
The remedies proposed are for the healing of these denominational ills: "gold tried in the fire," "white raiment," and "eyesalve." To the leadership of the church the Lord Jesus says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Upon the minds of church leadership there is deeply impressed as never before in world history a sense of the Lord's love for the corporate body of His last-day church, a love that finds expression not in pampering denominational pride but in "faithful and true" rebuke and chastening, albeit with abundant evidence of loyalty.
We Must Succeed Where the Jews Failed
There is no difficulty in understanding what the Lord Jesus means by His call to repentance. We have a divine illustration of it in His call to the leadership of the Jewish nation of His day. If we find out what He meant then, we know what He means now. With the repentance of Nineveh standing in sacred history as the model, we can easily see the pattern that the Lord Jesus expects to see develop today. "From the greatest of them to the least of them", the repentance envisaged in the Laodicean message must spread from the "top to the bottom" throughout the worldwide church. When the experience Christ calls for is understood and embraced by the "angel" of the church, the methods of its promotion will be. uniquely effective. It will be clearly seen that the Holy Spirit, not advertising promotional technique, will have "caused it to be proclaimed and published." As in Nineveh's day, "the king and his nobles" will range themselves solidly in support of the experience Christ calls for. (See Jonah 3:5-9).
Where the Jews of Christ's day failed, "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans" is to succeed. Although it is true that in past history God's calls to repentance have usually been refused, it is not necessary to expect that the final call He sends to the last-day church must also fail. The prophetic picture is clear that something must happen in the end of time that has never happened before. The long sad history of milleniums of defeat must be changed at last, and the remnant church glorify the Lord and vindicate Him before the world and before the universe in a way that has never yet been done. Thus the church will "make herself ready" to be worthy to become the Bride of Christ. Doesn't Christ deserve this? Hasn't He sacrificed enough and suffered enough that at last His church shall give Him the kind of complete surrender that a bride gives to her husband? Doesn't Calvary demand such a response from us? Should it be any longer delayed?
Success Not Only Possible, But Certain
Nothing could be more tragic in the end of history than for a disappointed Christ to have to stand before "the door" knocking in vain and ultimately turning away in the sadness of defeat. But the picture we see in Revelation 3:20 and 21 indicates complete success.
Christ purchased the church of Cod with His own blood (Acts 20:28), and thus richly deserves from her this full measure of devotion. Surely this will be the experience of Jesus' "bride." "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, Thou will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). By virtue of the infinte sacrifice on Calvary, let us have confidence that the Laodicean message will fully accomplish its objective.
The fact that the Jews failed does not mean that modern Israel must also fail:
That which Cod purposed to do for the world through Israel, the chosen nation, He will finally accomplish through His church on earth today. He has "let out His vineyard to other husbandmen," even to His covenant-keeping people, who faithfully "render Him the fruits in their season." (Prophets and Kings, pp. 713, 714.)
How encouraging this prophecy is! Lessons can be learned. The impenitent "old Jerusalem" will become the penitent "New Jerusalem," both corporate bodies. The transformation from the one to the other will be accomplished through the power of divine love.
Critics of the church who have given up hope and expect ultimate corporate failure mark her inward defects. The cannot see how God's love could possibly be loyal to such a faulty, erring church. Their mistake is a failure to discern the true nature of love. They assume, perhaps innocently, that divine love is like human love. Human love is conditioned and dependant on the value or virtue of its object. We "fall in love" with someone beautiful or wonderful. We cannot comprehend falling in love with someone ugly or evil. So critics look at the enfeebled and defective condition of the church and wonder how God's love for her can be permanent. "The church has failed," they say; "therefore, God's patient love must cease." What they have not yet seen is that divine love, being free and sovereign, is not dependent on the goodness or value of its object. It creates goodness and value in its object.
It is this creative quality of divine love which assures the complete success of the message of "the faithful and true witness" to the "angel of the church of the Laodiceans."
The Laodicean church is the "new covenant" church. Not for her own intrinsic goodness nor for her "works" will the Lord remain loyal to her, but because He remains a covenant-keeping God. "Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but … that the Lord thy God … may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (Deuteronomy 9:5). For the honor and glory of His name He will remain loyal to His church and in her vindication before the world Christ too will be vindicated. His sacrificial love will be proven justified.
Perhaps enough has been said in this chapter already. But we should consider one more question before we finish. Is it our business to ask whether an experience of corporate or denominational repentance is necessary, practical, or even beneficial?
We have no right to sit in judgment on our Lord's call and deliberate over its value as though it were a human suggestion someone makes. Perish the very thought that we have any right to reject it! Is He not our Lord and Master? Did He not give His blood for us? Is it not sufficient that the Lord Jesus Christ calls for repentance? How dares anyone to say, "Well, I like the idea, but I doubt it will work," or, "In my opinion, we're not all that bad that we need denominational repentance." No committee or council can contradict Christ's call.
The universe of heaven is watching us on their equivalent of TV. They watched the crucifixion of the Prince of glory. They have seen that He has called for a humbling of heart, contrition, melting of soul, from the denomination that prides itself on being the "remnant church."
What response will they see us make in this our generation?