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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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Revelation 3:17
Comments
They said, ‘I am rich.’ Maybe they meant this even materially. ‘God must be blessing me because I am good, upper-middle class person (or the equivalent in Laodicea), and they thought somehow that made them acceptable in God’s sight. But more likely this is meant spiritually. They said, ‘I am rich. I know so much doctrine. I know so much about the Lord. I am a fully-fledged believer. I am increased with goods and I need nothing.’ They never went before God with that right element of fear. ‘I must examine my heart. I have failed him this week. I should do more for him. And I have sinned in this way and that way.’ There was no self-examination; they were not concerned about their standing with God.They were blind to reality of their spiritual state. ‘Knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable’ – to be pitied in the sight of God. ‘And poor,’ that almost means reduced to begging based on the way the Greek word is used in classical literature. ‘And blind,’ no light, no discernment. ‘And naked,’ unsightly in the presence of God.
Application
It is possible we do not know these things. It is possible that you are a believer, and you are saved, and you have repented, and you have known new life and received the new nature, but you have slipped into an nominal, formal way of living. You are not hot, and committed, and enthusiastic, and concerned for souls. Maybe that has happened and you cannot see it. Maybe you cannot see yourself even as others see you, let alone as the Lord sees you, because this lukewarmness makes us blind.
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