SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2015
9:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Laodicea,
The Church and the City
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation 3:14a,
14c
Message of the
verse: “The church in Laodicea”
We look at this portion of every church that we have been
studying and have found out that there is no clear evidence as to how any of
the churches were started with the exception of Ephesus, and because of Acts
19:10 we believe that all of the churches began as daughter churches from the
Ephesian church. “This took place for
two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews
and Greeks.” John MacArthur does add the
following possibility: “Since Paul’s
coworker Epaphras founded the church in nearby Colossae (Col. 4:17), he may
well have founded the Laodicean church as well.”
The City of Laodicea (Rev. 3:14b “Laodicea.” There is a lot to say about this city and
similar to other letters when Christ speaks to them He uses familiar things of
their cities to bring about spiritual truths.
We will learn more about this when we look at what Christ has to say to
this church in His condemnation to the church.
Laodicea was one of three close cities that were in close
proximity of each other, Colossae and Hierapolis were all in the Lycus valley
which was about 100 miles east of the city of Ephesus, and Laodicea being the southeastern
most of all of the seven churches.
Laodicea was geographically nearly impregnable, and that surely was a
good thing during that time period.
However one of the problems that Laodicea had was water, for in the dry
season they would run out of water and so they took it upon themselves to build
a very long pipe line out of rock to get water to their city. The problem with this was twofold, first the
water was hirable tasting and it was always lukewarm, and second an enemy could
stop the flow of water to the city and just wait for them to run out of water.
The following quotes are from Bibleplaces.com: “The city is located in the Lycus River
Valley together with Hierapolis and Colossae. This valley is a natural
route of travel from east to west.
“The city was founded by
the Seleucid king Antiochus II and named for his wife Laodice about 260
BC.
Aqueduct
The water that was piped to
Laodicea was rich with calcium which over time would cause the pipes to
clog. The engineers designed the aqueduct with vents covered with stones
that could be removed periodically for cleaning.
Jesus' condemnation of the
city's church for lukewarmness rebukes not their lack of fervor but their lack
of effectiveness.”
In his commentary John MacArthur tells through his
research how it is known that there were many Jews living in this city. He writes:
“A local governor once forbade the Jews from sending the temple tax to
Jerusalem. When they attempted to do so
in spite of the prohibition, he confiscated the gold they intended for that
tax. From the amount of the seized shipment,
it has been calculated that 7,500 Jewish men lived in Laodicea; there would
have been several thousand more women and children. Even the Talmud spoke scornfully of the life
of ease and laxity lived by the Laodicean Jews.”
With the coming of the Pas Romana, which was peace under
Roman rule, the city prospered because of the roads that went through it and
also because of the things that they made, and were actually famous for. However in 60 AD a great earthquake destroyed
the city and after that the Romans wanted to fund the rebuilding of the city,
however the proud Laodicean people told Rome they needed no help and built the
city with their own funds. I have to say
that because I am a retire from Ford Motor Company that when the other two
major auto companies needed money to survive Ford told our government they were
just fine. Sorry about that but it kind
of similar.
The city was famous for bad water, beautiful black, soft
wool used for making women’s clothes and fine carpet. They also had a medical school there and were
also famous for eye save that brought relief to the eyes. They were also big in the industry of
finances.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I read through
this list of things that Laodicea were famous in and of themselves are no problem. However when you look at their overall
spirituality we will find out that there is something very wrong with
that. Perhaps they were more involved
with their business that the business of the Lord, and this can easily happen
in our world today, something I must not do.
I have a friend who mentored me right after I became a believer in Jesus
Christ and he told me a saying that I have never forgot, but may be hard for me
to write it out. He said to me that you
must keep your emfasses on the right syliable in other words you must keep your
emphases on the right syllable, or one my say that you need to watch your
priorities and keep them inline.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To love the Lord with all of my
heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand and live in the love
He has for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Six years” (2 Kings 11:1-2).
Today’s Bible question: “Why was the ruler sorrowful when Jesus told
him to sell all he had and give it to the poor?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/26/2015 10:47 AM
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