Openbaring 3:17

17 Want gij zegt: Ik ben rijk, en verrijkt geworden, en heb geens dings gebrek; en gij weet niet, dat gij zijt ellendig, en jammerlijk, en arm, en blind, en naakt.

Openbaring 3:17 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 3:17

Because thou sayest, I am rich
In worldly goods, which occasioned her lukewarmness, as riches often do, and her vanity, pride, and arrogance, afterwards expressed. Laodicea was a very rich city, and so will be this church state, through the accession of kings and princes, and great men of the earth unto it, in the former period: riches seldom do any good to the churches of Christ, they did not in Constantine's time; and it seems that even at the close of the spiritual reign of Christ they will be of bad consequence, since they will usher in the Laodicean church state: or her meaning is, that she was rich in spiritual things; not in grace, but in external gifts, which still remained, upon the very great pouring forth of the Spirit in the last church state; and in good works, on which she too much trusted for salvation, placing her righteousness in them: she is one whom the Jews ^F3 call (hrwtb ryve) , "rich in the law":

and increased with goods:
with outward peace and prosperity, with much natural and divine light and knowledge, with the purity of Gospel ordinances, even beyond the former church state in her own imagination:

and have need of nothing:
contenting herself with these external things: true believers, as considered in Christ, stand in need of nothing indeed, they are complete in him, and have everything in him; but, as considered in themselves, they are daily in need of daily food for their souls, as for their bodies, of fresh light and life, strength and comfort, and of new supplies of grace; wherefore this church shows great ignorance of herself, as well as great pride and arrogance to express herself in this manner:

and knowest not that thou art wretched;
as all men are in a state of nature and unregeneracy; which may be the case of many professors, and they be ignorant of it; as to be under a sentence of wrath, obnoxious to the curses of the law, in danger of hell and destruction, lost and undone, and unable to extricate themselves out of such a state: true believers account themselves wretched, as the Apostle Paul did, on account of indwelling sin, and the plague of their own hearts, which the members of this church, the greater part of them, were ignorant of:

and miserable;
a miserable man is one that is attended with outward afflictions, but this was not the case of this church; and with spiritual poverty, blindness, and nakedness, and this was her case; some persons neither know their misery, nor their need of mercy:

and poor;
not in purse, nor in spirit, nor with respect to outward afflictions, nor as to her church state, but in a spiritual sense; one whom the Jews call a ^F4 (hrwtb vr) , "poor in the law"; as such may be said to be who have nothing to eat that is fit to eat; nothing to wear but rags, and have no money to buy either; who are in debt, and not able to pay, nor to help themselves on any account; and this may be the case of professors, and yet not known and considered by them:

and blind;
natural men are blind as to a saving knowledge of God in Christ, as to the way of salvation by Christ, as to the plague of their own hearts, as to the work of the Spirit of God upon the soul, and as to the truths of the Gospel, in the power of them; but here it regards blindness with respect to her church state, and its imperfection:

and naked;
sin has stripped man of his moral clothing; man's own righteousness will not cover his nakedness; and whoever is destitute of the righteousness of Christ is a naked person.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 106. 2.
F4 Vajikra Rabba, sect. 34. fol. 173. 4. vid. Targum in Cant. viii. 9.

Openbaring 3:17 In-Context

15 Ik weet uw werken, dat gij noch koud zijt, noch heet; och, of gij koud waart, of heet!

16 Zo dan, omdat gij lauw zijt, en noch koud noch heet, Ik zal u uit Mijn mond spuwen.

17 Want gij zegt: Ik ben rijk, en verrijkt geworden, en heb geens dings gebrek; en gij weet niet, dat gij zijt ellendig, en jammerlijk, en arm, en blind, en naakt.

18 Ik raad u dat gij van Mij koopt goud, beproefd komende uit het vuur, opdat gij rijk moogt worden; en witte klederen, opdat gij moogt bekleed worden, en de schande uwer naaktheid niet geopenbaard worde; en zalf uw ogen met ogenzalf, opdat gij zien moogt.

19 Zo wie Ik liefheb, die bestraf en kastijd Ik; wees dan ijverig, en bekeer u.