part 2 of 2

What is Different About
Laodicea’s Repentance?

These problems do not necessarily mean that Laodicea is worse than the others of the seven churches; she seems as good as they. But such a standard is not sufficient for the immense eschatological opportunity of living in these last days, the time of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. This never-before phase of our great High Priest’s ministry calls for a never-before kind of response from His people. This becomes another phase of repentance.

In Christ’s view, Laodicea’s problem is that she is far behind the times in which she lives. Her spiritual condition has become an anachronism. She is “wretched, and miserable, and poor,” while living in a time when she should enjoy unprecedented spiritual wealth. If one of us, accustomed to today’s benefits of technology, were suddenly to return to living like a king or wealthy lord in the Dark Ages, he would be proper pitied as “wretched … and poor” indeed. He would have no proper plumbing, no electricity, no furnace, no car, no phone, no TV, no medical care. Hardly any reader of this book would willingly return to such a primitive life, even in a medieval palace, with chamber-pots, spit-baths, and exposure to the Black Plague. Jesus says that Laodicea is “wretched” because the spiritual wealth of past ages becomes “miserable” in a time when spiritual progress is possible beyond any previous age. While Christ is performing His “final atonement” in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, for us to continue living as though He were still in the first apartment—this is poverty indeed. The setting of the Laodicean message is the Day of Atonement.

Another problem is that the remnant church is also “blind and naked.” Although she is living in the time of judgment, she is shamefully unprepared, pitifully ignorant of how she appears before the watching eyes of the world and the universe. The pathos of her true state is beyond words. Is it not the ultimate shame to be naked, and yet be unaware of it? “Thou knowest not,” says the True Witness. And even worse than being naked and not knowing it, to imagine that one is “rich and increased with goods”—this borders on actual lunacy. The gap between Laodicea’s unique opportunities just before the coming of Christ and her true state has widened so much that her pathetic condition has become the most difficult problem the Lord has ever had to deal with. Laodicea is the laughing stock of hell.

If her condition is unique, surely the repentance Christ calls for from her must also be unique. What kind of repentance could possibly match Laodicea’s need?

At the risk of over-simplifying the answer, we could say that Laodicea’s repentance today must be appropriate to the ministry of Christ in cleansing the heavenly sanctuary. It must be the kind of repentance that fits the Day of Atonement, because the message to Laodicea is parallel to this cleansing of the sanctuary. To say this in words is easy, and is true enough; how to discover what this means in practical, understandable terms—this is our task.

Repentance and the
Cleansing of the Sanctuary

One helpful clue is provided by the Bible doctrine of the “blotting out of sins” which takes place in “the times of refreshing,” that is, the cleansing of the sanctuary (see Acts 3:19). Seventh-day Adventists understand the “daily” ministry in the sanctuary to include the forgiveness of sins; but the “yearly” includes the blotting out of sins. This work, which we understand began in 1844, is something that occurs only at the end of time, the conclusion of the 2300 years (see The Great Controversy, pages 421, 422, 483).

But just as no sin can be forgiven without appropriate repentance, likewise no sins can be blotted out without appropriate repentance. It is obvious that in these last days there is something Laodicea “knows not,” some deeper level of guilt and sin which has never been discerned nor truly repented of. And Christ calls Laodicea to such a repentance.

It will not suffice for one to say, “Let the heavenly computers do the work— my sins will be blotted out when the time comes without my knowing about it.” This may be partly true; but there is no such thing as automatic, computerized blotting out of sins that takes place without our participation and cooperation. It is we who are to repent individually, not the heavenly computers. No sin can be forgiven or blotted out unless we come to see it, confess it, and turn from it. Our deeper level of sin and guilt must be realized if our Saviour’s complete ministry for us is to be effected. Nothing short of this can be true repentance in such a time as this.

Hence there lies before Laodicea an experience of repentance that is unique in world history. The Lord calls for it now. All things are being held up for lack of it. Our plane, freighted with the precious cargo of the Loud Cry message to enlighten the earth, has been circling in a holding pattern far too long. There is no time now for more delay, not even to wait until after the “shaking,” for then it may be too late.

Ellen G. White had a profound understanding of human nature. She recognized the existence of a deeper level of sinful guilt beneath the surface of our understanding, and how, if we let Him, our great High Priest will bring this to our understanding so that repentance can be complete. The principle is clear:

The work of restoration can never be thorough unless the roots of evil are reached. Again and again the shoots have been clipped, while the root of bitterness has been left to spring up and defile many; but the very depth of the hidden evil must be reached, the moral senses must be judged, and judged again, in the light of the divine presence. (SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, p. 1152).

The Laodicean message must be proclaimed with power; for now it is especially applicable. … Not to see our own deformity is not to see the beauty of Christ’s character. When we are fully awake to our own sinfulness, we shall appreciate Christ. … Not to see the marked contrast between Christ and ourselves is not to know ourselves. He who does not abhor himself cannot understand the meaning of redemption. … There are many who do not see themselves in the light of the law of God. They do not loathe selfishness; therefore they are selfish. (Review and Herald, Sept. 25, 1900).

The message to the Laodicean church reveals our condition as a people. … Ministers and church-members are in danger of allowing self to take the throne. … If they would see their defective, distorted characters as they are accurately reflected in the mirror of God’s word, they would be so alarmed that they would fall upon their faces before God in contrition of soul, and tear away the rag; of their self-righteousness. (ibid., Dec. 15, 1904).

The Holy Spirit will reveal faults and defects of character that ought to have been discerned and corrected. … The time is near when the inner life will be fully revealed. All will behold, as if reflected in a mirror, the working of the hidden springs of motive. The Lord would have you now examine your own life, and see how stands your record with Him. (ibid., Nov. 10, 1896).

If we have defects of character of which we are not aware, He [the Lord] gives us discipline that will bring those defects to our knowledge, that we may overcome them. … Your circumstances have served to bring new defects in your character to your notice; but nothing is revealed but that which was in you. (ibid., Aug. 6, 1889; all emphasis in above quotations is supplied).

It is only to be expected that the enemy of Christ will put forth the most diabolic and persistent efforts to prevent or delay this full repentance which He calls for. Satan is delighted to see God’s people continue proudly in their self-satisfied and lukewarm state, decade after decade. He sneers contemptuously at their spiritual naivete, while they are unknowing of their shame. His purpose is to expose them to the scorn of the world and keep them the objects of Heaven’s shame.

The Greatest Sin of All the Ages

Israel’s ruin came because they refused in the days of their Messiah to accept His message concerning a deeper level of guilt than they had realized. They were not by nature more evil than any other generation; it was simply theirs to act out to the full the same sinfulness that all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam have by nature. To them the divine Son of God came on a mission of mercy. As our natural “carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7), they simply demonstrate” this fact visibly, once for all, in the murder of their divine Visitor. All of us must know that we are by nature no better than they. Those who crucified the Saviour are only holding up a mirror wherein we can see ourselves.

Horatius Bonar learned this in a dream. One night he seemed to be witnessing the crucifixion of Christ. In a frenzy of agony, such as we experience in vivid dreams, he tried to remonstrate with the cruel soldiers who were driving spikes through Christ’s hands and feet. He laid his hand on the shoulder of one of them to beg him to stop. When the murderer turned to look at him, Bonar recognized his own face.

The repentance which Christ calls for from Laodicea is that which will go down to the deepest roots of this natural “enmity against God.” What is this deeper phase of repentance? It is repenting of sins that we may not have personally committed, but which we would have committed if we had the opportunity. This is appropriate because the books of heaven already record those sins written against our names:

God’s law reaches the feelings and motives, as well as the outward acts. It reveals the secrets of the heart, flashing light upon things before buried in darkness. God knows every thought, every purpose, every plan, every motive. The books of heaven record the sins that would have been committed had there been opportunity. (SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, p. 1085)

Everyone of us can ask himself the profound question, what sins would I have committed “had there been opportunity”? Linger for a moment on that word, “opportunity.” It has come to others in the form of alluring, overmastering temptations. The tempter sees to it that “opportunity” is available through fiendishly clever circumstances and temptations.

None of us can endure the full consciousness of what we would do if subjected to sufficient pressure, terrorism for example. But our potential sin is recorded in “the books of heaven.” Only the full work of the Holy Spirit can bring to us this deeper conviction of sin; but in these last days when sins must be “blotted out” as well as pardoned, this is His blessed work. No buried seed of sin can be translated into God’s eternal kingdom.

Therefore, the kind of repentance Christ calls for from His people in these last days is repenting as though what is apparently the sin of others were really our own (which in fact it is). Whatever sins other people are guilty of, they obviously had the “opportunity” of committing them; somehow the temptations were real to them and overmastering. The deeper insight the Holy Spirit brings us in these last days is that we are by nature no better than other sinners are. When Scripture says that “all have sinned”, it means, as the New English Bible translates it, “all alike have sinned” (Romans 3:23).

The root of all sin, its common denominator, is of course the crucifixion of Christ, enmity against God. A confession of sin that only scratches the surface can bring only a veneer forgiveness. A terrible record remains upon the books of heaven, even though we are not aware of it—”thou knowest not.”

What kind of repentance is Christ calling for in these last days? How deep and thorough must it be? What are the practical aspects of this tremendous disclosure of our true guilt?

Our search must continue.