14 This message is for the emissary, the apostolic Kohen, of the gathering called together at Laodicea. I hold you in my right hand together with the other stars of fire, to light the golden menorahs among which I walk. Receive this message and use it to strengthen the light of your menorah.
The words to you are the words of the Amen, the one who seals the complete revelation. For yours is the final and the highest calling of all the assemblies.
Yours is the witness to the one who is himself the Amen, the seal and therefore the beginning of the revelation of God and of the creation of God. The Amen is faithful and true. Therefore your witness to the Amen must be and will be faithful and true. These are the words of the Amen for you to convey, star of Laodicea.
15 I know your motivations and what you do. You obey my commandments but without heart. You neither have a cold hatred, as do those assembled in Ephesus do, for those who are evil, those who lie and deceive and pretend to be what they are not, nor are you burning within with love for my name, as are those assembled in Philadelphia. How I desire for you to realize your potential, for you to give a strong testimony of Adam's regeneration through Israel's redemption in my death and resurrection!
16 So, because you are tepid, and without enthusiasm, being content with your religion in this world and falling far short of your potential for defeating the evil inclination and the rebellion of this world against God, and neither hot with strong motivation to testify to the truth, nor cold with strong, righteous zeal against the lie..., I must spew you out of my mouth. I must seem to disown you. I must resort to the final form of chastisement that is possible and correct you by not correcting you, but rather, letting your own behaviour correct you, as I do with gentiles.
17 For you say, I am rich, God has blessed me in every way. I have prospered. I thank God for all that I have. I have lived my life according to God's word. He has rewarded me and I am in need nothing. You do not realize that you are sickly and to be pitied, poor, blind, and exposed. For your religious and material success deceives you, making you think that God is as pleased with you as you are with yourself. In truth, God has turned you over to be seduced by a god of the nations, in order that, one day, you might see how destitute you truly are and repent.
18 Yours is the highest calling and the greatest potential. Yours is the calling of the witness of martyrs, but you turned away to be seduced by the falseness of gold. I counsel you to buy from me the true, spiritual gold. For I have gold redeemed and purified by fire. Give me your trust and I will give you a testimony that is faithful unto death, so that you will be rich. And buy from me white linen garments with which to clothe yourself, so that your sins will not be exposed. Buy from me salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see the truth of the Good News. The good news is not about your personal blessings. It is the news of how God has rectified the sin of Adam.
19 I reprove and discipline all whom I love, and how greatly I love you! Therefore I will discipline you fully until you are saved from your error and reach spiritual maturity. If you turn immediately and receive this message and learn to embody this revelation which is addressed to you, in the end, I will receive the greatest testimony from you out of all the assemblies.
20 Listen! I am knocking at the door of each assembly. Open the door if you recognize my voice. We will sit and dine together, in intimate fellowship, like the fellowship that I have always with my twelve disciples. All separation between us will be forgotten. Listen no more to the voice of a stranger using my name who tells you to settle down and assimilate into the nations and take comfort in the blessings of material success. I am not far from you, but near.
21 The one who overcomes their unbelief and obeys what the Spirit says will sit with me upon my throne. This is the throne of victory over the evil inclination which has ruled over this world since the sin of Adam. Receive my faith fully and live in it. For I overcame all the unbelief in the world and obeyed the commandment given to me by my Father and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 You who hear this message from the Spirit know who you are. Listen carefully to what the Spirit says to each of the assemblies. Not everyone who counts themselves a member of an assembly, or does works in my name, hears and believes what the Spirit says.
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
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 eat with him, and he with me.
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.’”
Hearing Seven Thunders: The Revelation - chapter one >
