2. LAODICEA: LISTEN TO THE AMEN, THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS!

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We saw, in the first part of this series on Laodicea, that the word Laodicea means “the people’s justice”—laos+dike. And we saw that this justice is the counterfeit justice that Satan attempted to institute at the beginning of his rebellion against God’s government—the serpent’s justice based on the balances of good and evil. Already we begin to get a glimpse of what Laodicea’s problem is all about.

The message to this church is filled with much meaning, and there are many morcels of hidden gems lurking under just about every word here. As we continue, shall we find further confirmation? If so, then we must be on the right track!

The first words we hear in Laodicea’s message are:

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.’

Revelation 3: 14

Before we hear the things that the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, and the Beginning of the Creation of God has to say to Laodicea, let’s pause to ponder on these titles. The message given here is preceded by the supreme qualifications of the Messenger, signifying that this is no trivial matter. We ought to give most earnest heed.

The Amen. The Faithful and True Witness. The Beginning of the Creation of God.

The Word Study has this to say about the word “Amen:” “amḗn; transliterated from the Hebr. ’āmēn (H543). Amen, to be firm, steady, truthworthy. Rendered also as “truth” (Isa 65:16, “God of amen”; Jer 11:5, “So be it”). The Gr. word is a transliteration of the Hebr. and is rendered “verily” in the frequently recurring formula, “Verily, verily, I say unto you.””

“Verily, verily, I say unto you” or “Verily I say unto you.”

We actually counted how often Jesus used these words, and lo and behold, He spoke them seventy seven times, the number of completion! It’s as if He is trying, from every angle, to call our attention to the fact that He does indeed know what He is talking about and we should trust it!

But Jesus is not just an amen. He is THE Amen. This is the Creator and Saviour, the absolute truth speaking to us!

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1: 14

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

John 1: 17-18

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14: 6

Jesus is THE TRUTH. Every word that comes out of His mouth is truth. But His credentials don’t stop there. He is not only THE TRUTH, but He is also THE FAITHFUL Witness. There is an effort here to convince us thoroughly that the words spoken to Laodicea can be trusted fully because they are coming from someone who is supremely trustworthy, of uttmost integrity and credibility.

Take a look at the meaning of the word “Faithful” according to Mounce’s Concordance: “faithful, true, trusty, veracious, credible, sure, certain, indubitable, believing, yielding belief and confidence, spc. a Christian believer; πιστόν, in a true-hearted manner, right-mindedly.”

Again, superlative is added to superlative! Furthermore, Jesus is not only described as being FAITHFUL, but as being THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS. Why is this? Why this insistence on truth, on faithfulness? And why is He described as a witness?

We all know that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established” (Deut. 19: 15, Matt. 18: 16). In the case of Jesus’ legitimacy and authenticity, do we have two witnesses?

Jesus addressed this very issue when He said:

If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.

John 5: 31-37

Jesus declared that God is the first witness confirming His authenticity as the Messiah and as the true Messenger sent from heaven. God Himself testified of Him! How did God confirm and testity of Jesus’ supreme witness over anyone else’s? 

God the Father testified directly to Laodicea, the church living just before Jesus’ Second Coming.

When and how did He do that, you may ask? He did it at Jesus’ transfiguration, “after six days,” signifying the time we are living in, that is, the sixth millennium, when Jesus “took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves” (Matthew 17: 1), to show them a vision of the Second Coming. The transfiguration was a type of the Second Advent, and this is shown by the verses that precede it, in Matthew 16:

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

Matthew 16: 27-28

Then we read how it happened in Matthew 17: 

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Matthew 17: 1-8

Peter, in his typical earnest but clueless way, wanted to establish a tabernacle for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Perhaps it was unbeknownst to him, but what he was in effect attempting to do, was place the two human prophets on the same footing as Jesus! It was then that the Father quickly intervened and cut him off mid sentence, while he was still speaking:

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!

Matthew 17: 5

This voice coming from heaven caused abject fear in the disciples. Moses and Elijah had given them a frightening, genocidal, violent, destructive, view of God. Jesus, however, assuaged their fears:

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

“Arise and do not be afraid.” Jesus came to give us witness regarding His Father, the true God whom we need not be afraid of. God is love, He is perfect love, and “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4: 18).

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

1 John 1: 17-19

God is a God of love and Jesus is the ultimate Witness of His loving character.

Could it be then, that Christ wants to firmly establish His credibility because we all have been so horribly deceived for so long about God’s character? And that the time to set the record straight has come, and He is the only One that can do it, the only One who has not been deceived? 

In chapter 12 of Revelation we read how the arch deceiver started a massive disinformation campaign in heaven: 

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. 

Revelation 12: 3-4

Allowing the Bible to decode its own symbols, we learn that what “drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth” were the lies of the dragon,  symbolized by his tail: 

The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

Isaiah 9: 15

Jesus confirmed that Satan is a liar when He spoke to some believers who were seeking to kill Him for speaking the truth:

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

John 8: 44-47

Satan taught and spread lies upon lies until not only we, but the whole universe as well, was covered by a mountain of lies. And now The Amen, The Faithful and True Witness is having to remove those lies one by one in a massive clean up operation. Thus, He is methodically revealing the truth to all of us one step at a time, through His High Priestly work in the Most Holy Place. This ministry applies to us living in the antitypical Day of Atonement—the Day of Judgment.

The most solemn of the Jewish feasts, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement was supposed to be a day of fasting, not of feasting. This feast is described in Leviticus chapter 16. There, through types and symbols we read about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, which wipes away all of our sins:

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

Leviticus 16: 15-16

And there we read also how the lies of Satan (the live goat) will be revealed, and all will see how the father of lies has deceived the whole world. He will bear all iniquity because he is the author of iniquity (Ezekiel 18: 15):

And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

Leviticus 16: 20-22

Jesus reveals all truth in the Day of Atonement—the Day of Judgment. He opens the books and unseals them. This is a period of time in which He cleanses God’s character from all the lies of Satan. As One who is One with the Father, He is the main Witness in this cosmic judgment because only He knows the Father in verity. And because of His unique witness, the true character of God the Father will indeed surface from under the heaps and layers of lies spewed out by the serpent:

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

Revelation 14: 6-7

God, the true and only God, is the Creator who “made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” It is He whom we should worship because He has given us life and all good gifts. And Jesus is the Faithfull and True Witness because He is the BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD. It was through Him that all things were created.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

John 1: 3

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Colossians 1: 16-18

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ

Ephesians 3: 8-9

Our worship has been misdirected to the great deceiver and enemy of mankind because of the phenomenal disinformation we have been fed by the his tail. 

We would like to propose to the reader, that as we continue this series on Laodicea, it will become clear that the above message of Revelation 14: 6 is the message that has been given to this church.

Laodicea is the most favored church of all! It has been given the great priviledge of partnering with The Amen, The Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God, in lighting up the world with the truth about our wonderful and merciful God, in pushing back the darkness of the lies that have kept the human race estranged from a loving Father and in bondage to death for thousands of years! What an amazing gift, dear church!

We are this church, and we exist right now, during the Day of Judgment spoken of in Revelation 14. This is why we are here, this is why we are living at this time in the history of the earth! God has called each and every one of us to partner with The Amen, The Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God, to reveal the truth of the eternal gospel—the truths of the eternal good news about the eternal God. Our poor little world, filled with unending bad news, needs this truth more than anything!

Laodicea was meant to be the “angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth.” It was given this most precious gift, this awesome task, by the Creator Himself.

But as we keep reading, we soon see The Amen, The Faithful and True Witness, and the Beginning of the Creation of God, exposing all the problems with this church, showing that unless it repents, it will utterly and miserably fail it’s extremely important mission. How sad. How disappointing! 

Laodicea, please, listen to The Amen, to The Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God! Please listen before it is too late!