Laodicea Triumphs in the End.
“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and people will not see his shame.” – Revelation 16:15.
The word ‘Armageddon’ occurs only once in all of scripture. The plain of Megiddo is not even big enough to fit a modern army on! However, the last great conflict between the forces of Good and evil is an end-time reality clearly outlined in scripture. Jesus gave us an insight into heaven before sin when He said, “…the devil, … was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” – John 8:44 NLT
This is a very important text because it demonstrates that the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 16:14, 16) is a battle for the hearts and minds of real people. This is as it was in heaven at lucifer’s original rebellion. It is not about Middle Eastern oil or the kinds of fighting we have seen in that part of the world recently. Right in the middle of the passage describing the Battle of Armageddon is a call to the people of God to stay watchful and faithful as the End-time approaches.
What is particularly interesting is the connection between today’s text and the message to Laodicea in chapter three. There are four words in this text (garment, naked, see and shame) that appear together in only one other place in the Bible, Rev 3:17-18, the message to Laodicea! At the decisive end-point of history, we are reminded of the letter to Laodicea.
The key problem with Laodicea is in authenticity. What she says about herself and what she is are two different things. According to the text, Laodicea has put on a mask of riches but she lives in a reality of spiritual poverty. She’s put on a mask of beautiful clothing but there is the reality of nakedness. She claims to be living on easy street, but she is actually wretched and homeless.
According to this text (v15) Laodiceans have taken the counsel in the last days to buy “the garment of righteousness” offered by Christ. Now they must “hang on” to it.
There are 2 gospels in Revelation: the 3 Angels of Rev 14:6-12 taken by God’s people in the end time to all the world. The counterfeit Gospel is proclaimed in Rev 16:13-14. These unclean spirits go out to the whole world also. This counterfeit gospel is also described in 2THess 2:9-12 and Matt 24:24-27. It is accompanied by miraculous signs. According to Jesus and Paul those who have not fortified their minds with the words of scripture will be deceived in the final crisis.
To every person will come the searching test: Shall I obey God rather than men? The apostle Paul declared, looking down to the last days: ‘The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.’ 2 Timothy 4:3. That time has fully come. The multitudes do not want Bible truth, because it interferes with the desires of the sinful, world-loving heart; and Satan supplies the deceptions which they love.
God’s people are named by many names in the Book of Revelation. The faithful, saints, the remnant, the 144,000, chosen and faithful followers of the Lamb. The allusion to Joel 2:32 in Revelation 14:1 makes it clear that John sees the two groups as the same.
God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority—not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain ‘Thus saith the Lord’ in its support.” “Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good.”(1 Thess 5:21)
Jesus and Paul warned us (Matt 24:23-24, 2Thess2:8-12) that as the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will impersonate Christ.
The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now (as portrayed in Revelation 13 and 16) the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation 1:13–15. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: ‘Christ has come! Christ has come!’ The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people. Paul told us that in the last days this will be a strong, almost overmastering delusion. (2Thess 2:8-13)