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Christ's Call to the Church to Repent

The Spirit of Prophecy does not uphold the idea that the “saints” that “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12) are some nondenominated and unorganized movement. While we know that some unconverted individuals in the church will eventually be “shaken out” in the final crisis, the denomination known as Seventh-day Adventists is recognized in the writings of Ellen G. White as the prophetic “remnant church,” and the supreme object of the Lord’s love:

In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light-bearers. To them has been intrusted the last warning for a perishing world, … They have been given a work of the most solemn import,—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages . . .

The most solemn truths ever intrusted to mortals have been given to us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned, and God’s people are to be true to the trust committed to them. (Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 19.)

If the Seventh-day Adventist church has such a trust committed to her, it is equally true that Christ’s message to Laodicea is addressed primarily to her rather than to Christendom in general, or to some splinter group within the church.* But notice that when Christ calls for repentance, lie is speaking primarily not to the church at large, but to the leadership:

1. The Book of Revelation is generally addressed “unto the seven churches,” but the seven messages of chapters 2 and 3 are addressed particularly to the “angels of the seven churches.” There is a reason for this distinction.
2. The word “angel” means messenger (from angellō, to deliver a message), and can refer either to human or heavenly “messengers.” (For examples of angelōs used with reference to human beings see Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:24; 9:52.) The “angels of the seven churches” cannot be literal angels in heaven because these holy beings have neither left their “first love” nor “fallen” nor “suffered Jezebel to teach” nor lived a name when “dead” nor been “lukewarm.” Neither do they have occasion to “repent.” Christ directed John to write to the human leadership of the seven churches, in each instance a personified leadership addressed by the second person singular pronoun, “thou.”
3. Jesus Himself defines the “angels of the seven churches” as “the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand.” Revelation 1:16, 20. The Spirit of Prophecy, in turn, defines the “seven stars” for us: “God’s ministers are symbolized by the seven stars.” “Christ’s ministers are the spiritual guardians of the people entrusted to their care.” Gospel Workers, pages 13, 14.
4. In the case of the seventh church we recognize the church in the last period of the Christian era in the end of time as the same as the people of Revelation 12:17 and 14:12. The Seventh-day Adventist church is in a special, unique sense the church of Laodicea. It follows that the “angel of the church of the Laodiceans” is primarily the responsible leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist church. The “angel” includes all leadership on all conference levels and the local leadership of congregations, each segment or level appropriately responsible.
   Note the following comments: “’Those things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand.’ These words are spoken to the teachers in the church—those entrusted by God with weighty responsibilities.” (Acts of the Apostles, page 586, emphasis added. Compare Acts of the. Apostles, page 164, where “those whom God has appointed to bear the responsibilities of leadership” in the church are identified with “those in the offices that God has appointed for the leadership of His people”.)
5. The way Christ has dictated the Laodicean message proves that He respects the principles of church organization. lie does not jump the lines of responsibility or go over the heads of leadership in order to appeal to the church at large. He intends that the “angel of the church” shall repent first; and then entrusts to that leadership the task of ministering the experience to the worldwide church. If this were not true, He would have addressed the message “to the church of the Laodiceans” and disregarded the “angel of the church.” When Christ’s plan is understood, and when His message is appreciated, far more quickly than we suppose possible an experience of contrition and reconciliation with Christ will be communicated to the worldwide church, hearts will be humbled before the Lord, and a people will be prepared for the close of probation. There is no reason why this vast task cannot be accomplished within the lifetime of the readers of this book.

Will Christ Reject Laodicea?

The Laodicean message is full of hope for the church. It is loyal. It recognizes the church as Christ’s one object of supreme regard. His appeal to repent means clearly that He entertains infinite hope of success, that He fully expects His church to respond, else He would not waste His effort. His call expresses confidence in His church. Further, the time lapse of well over a century indicates His patience and long-suffering which He could not bestow upon an object which He inter led ultimately to abandon.

Some are tempted to discouragement by the words, “Because thou art lukewarm … I will spew thee out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16). They feel that the church is so enfeebled and defective that Christ has either already fulfilled this promise and actually “spued” her out of His mouth, that is, rejected her; or that He will soon do so. In other words, they feel that the church is doomed, and this doom is just as sure and certain as is the fact that she is lukewarm. They add, “The Lord has made a definite promise; the church is lukewarm; therefore, the ‘spewing out’ is only a matter of time, or perhaps already accomplished.”

The original language makes clear that Jesus did not say that He would indeed “spew out” His lukewarm church. What He said was, “I am about to spew thee out of My mouth” (mellō se emesai). Since the apostle John wrote both the Revelation and the Gospel bearing his name, we can better understand this expression by seeing how he used the same word mellō (“I am about to”) in another passage. Speaking of the “nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum,” John says that the son “was at the point of death” (John 4:47), using mellō. What he says in plain English is that the boy was critically ill, about to die, but did not die.

What Jesus says to us in plain English is, “I am suffering acute nausea on account of your lukewarmness,” or, “you make Me sick.” He does not say that the spewing out is inevitable. Rather, He begs His church to “heal” His “nausea” by the only means practicable: “Be zealous, therefore, and repent.”

In our denominational history movements have occasionally arisen on the assumption that Christ has already “spewed out” the leadership of His church. These result from a general misunderstanding of His call to repent. It is assumed (l) that the call to repent is for individual repentance; (2) that it has been understood; and (3) that it has been rejected. This essay presents evidence that (l) the call is to corporate and denominational repentance; (2) it has not been fully understood; and (3) it has, therefore, not been rejected, at least not finally.

If it should eventually be that Christ’s call is finally rejected, the “I am about to spew thee out” would of course become “I have spewed thee out.” But that great “if” is not true. It would require the failure of the Laodicean message and the final defeat of the Lord Jesus as faithful Divine lover. Everyone who is willing to concede such a defeat for Christ makes clear that he stands on the side of Satan, for Satan is determined that such a defeat must take place. Even the nagging doubt that expresses the “if” is born of unbelief. It is Satan that constantly assailed the Son of God with those barbed “ifs”: “If Thou be the Son of God,” “if … Thou worship me”; and at the cross, “if He be the King of Israel,” “if God will have Kim.” We are on Satan’s side in the great struggle if we talk about “if the Bride repents and makes herself ready,” or “if the church responds.” That doubt of Christ’s complete vindication paralyzes our devotion like nerve gas paralyzes a person’s will.

* See Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 186, 187; Selected Messages, Book 1, pp. 91-93; Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, pp. 959, 960, 961.