30. THE KINGDOM PARABLES – THE SEVENTH – THE DRAGNET – PART 6 OF 6
We are bringing the final Parable of the Kingdom to an end. I don’t know how many might have followed this series but the whole lot is beautiful as the word of God contains all these treasures. In every Parable, we looked at the Parable itself in context, then at the church that corresponds to the parable. Lastly, as in all of them, we consider the period of Church History represented by each in turn.
What is astounding is that all 7 parables and 7 churches and 7 Church History periods, have all been in exact consecutive order. Only God could have planned it that way, not man. The Laodicean period of Church History is the easiest for us because it is the one we live in.
The church situated in Laodicea was a miserable one, poor spiritually, though overflowing with material riches. They were naked and blind to the Holy Spirit, and to any relationship to the Lord. They were apathetic and lukewarm with the Lord placed on the outside of the church.
We must ask, “When did this date of this Church age start?” The previous one represented by Philadelphia was a blessed one all with God’s approval. I suggested that the Philadelphian period incorporated the great movements of God in the past two to three hundred years, and was NOT a denomination as some previous Church periods were.
These three great moves of God were world evangelism with such names as the Wesleys, Torrey, Moody and Billy Graham. Today some of this is carried on through great Christian radio stations internationally.
The second move of God was the great outreach of missionary endeavour and we looked at organisations for that. Then I suggested the third move of God was to bring in the awareness of eschatology (study of the last things). It was the revival of studying biblical prophecy – Rapture, Tribulation, Second Coming, but trumping all of these things, it was the return of Israel to its land that is absolutely significant. After about 1800 to 1900 years, God started to open up Israel again, and people are looking at Israel in biblical prophetic light.
I find it horrendous when I meet “people in the church” who are anti-Semitic, critical of the Jews and banishing them to judgemental fury from A.D. 70 to the present, and to eternity. It is demonic because God has not cast His people away.
Getting back to our question about the start of the Laodicea period, it would have to be around 1950 I think. Some people have an earlier date, but one of the great movers was the World Council of Churches, a liberal amalgamation of denominations, almost all of them now very liberal.
The Council was formed on 22 August 1948. “The formation of the World Council of Churches marked the culmination of a growing recognition that Christianity could be more effective and more consistent with its own theological VISION IF HISTORICAL AND DOCTRINAL DIVISIONS WERE MINIMIZED.” That produced an insipid, lukewarm profession of churches walking away from God.
In the first part of the 20th century and just before that, and even today, the influence of German rationalism was hitting many churches hard. There was the denial of miracles, questions about biblical authorship, even about the Person and Character of Christ. These great errors found their way into Bible Seminaries and Denominational training Colleges.
The church at Laodicea was powerless for the Lord, and generally speaking, so too is the modern church. It has plenty of hype with the charismatic practices, but no penetrating effectiveness in a lost world; more show and noise but not godliness.
The Baptist denomination in the United States 70 years ago was a powerful, fairly united force for God but from around the 1970s began splintering into hundreds of factions along the whole spectrum of doctrinal matters. Just this year I had a practising Baptist minister in the USA who disagreed with me on a basic doctrine of the bible, and then called me an idiot and buffoon, and an ignoramus in scripture.
Additionally I wrote to the First Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia, where the minister is the Democrat Senator - Raphael Gamaliel Warnock. I was concerned about the liberalism there and the WOKE approach of the church and the socialism in the name of Baptist. Conclusion – I was banned from their church site on the Internet. No surprise.
In Laodicea, local orators would sometimes praise the city for its self-sufficiency and independence, so it is not surprising that the church also absorbed some of the facets of the city and chose its independence of Christ. It was wealthy and had need of nothing. It was rich in spiritual gift and ability and evidently boasted of its knowledge and light. It was conceited.
I think this quote comes from Tatford – “The Patmos Letters” - [[ “Self complacency in material prosperity lends itself to religious self satisfaction. Gift and ability are not enough to create spirituality. How appropriate were the Lord’s words to them in that the eastern Church and how applicable they are for our generation, for the affluent and smugly contented church of today. They had no consciousness of need. Eternity was remote and the world was at hand. Materialism had clouded over the vision of Christ and had corrupted His people’s love and devotion for Him.” ]]
The Laodicean church was offered something from the Lord, as He would do the modern church of our generation - [[ “The glossy dark wool of Laodicea was famous throughout the world, but the Lord offered these Christians clothes of dazzling white if they would but receive it. He had warned them of their nakedness, lest their spiritual nudity become evident to all and exhorted them to be clothed in the raiment He offered. (3:18). Divine righteousness was available to cover them as a robe and to conceal the nudity of which they were totally unaware.” ]] Tatford.
One wrote this about the church at Laodicea but the 21st century needs it too, enormously so! - [[ “The message to Laodicea has deeply influenced Christian thought regarding the ever-present dangers of complacency, mediocrity, and materialism. Christ expects much more from His followers than a middle ground, risk-free faith. Half-hearted commitment is repugnant to Him. The themes addressed in this passage remain highly relevant for Christians today.
In summary, while Laodicea was a wealthy and politically important city in the first century AD, the church there failed to live up to the Lord’s standards. The Christians in Laodicea had accommodated to the surrounding culture and become lax in their commitment to Christ. Their self-sufficiency blinded them to their profound spiritual needs. Through His rebuke and call to repentance, Christ summoned the Laodiceans to revival and renewal through Him. The message conveyed vital truths about the danger of complacency and the need for wholehearted devotion.” ]]
[[ “Often adversity causes a refining and a purity and a turning to the Lord. Here we read of no opposition so the need for repentance is summed up in “Be zealous therefore and repent.” (3:19). In days of trial and adversity, there is a keener realisation of need and of dependence upon God, and the recovery and restoration of the believer is sometimes only gained through the experience of difficulty and tribulation. The Lord accordingly sought to arouse His people to a change of attitude and a renewal of their earlier zeal and enthusiasm.” ]] Tatford
The church in the west today is complacent because it has dropped many of the spiritual values once held. The church in Africa and a few other places is being refined through suffering. This is a call to the church at the end of the age to wake up, and if it doesn’t, God is likely to bring persecution to it. Those He loves, He will chasten.
Jesus was at the door, knocking, desiring the members of this self-willed church to open up to Him in repentance so that they might learn the meaning of true communion and dine with the Lord on His own spiritual food. (3:20). When the Lord Jesus Christ finds an entry into a heart and life, endless bliss and communion are the believers’ joyful experience. Handley Moule says, “The blessed Christ enters without preface or delay and the room is lit by the sun of heaven.”
In the assembly (church) that claims Christ’s name, the people had taken over and put the Lord outside the door where He would respond to the repentant individual. It represents the church era from about 1950 onwards, from about the time of the World Council of Churches including the modern professing state of christendom, with leaders of churches often most repulsive to the Lord. That church can only look forward to judgment. The modern church of pretend world christendom.
In 2025 the newly elected woman Archbishop of the Church of England in Britain is a disgrace to biblical orthodoxy. This has happened to the Methodists also and the recent Popes are disgraceful. These matters are not being critical, but an exposé of what the church now is and who they accept as leaders.
Christ has been shut outside of denominational institutions, and other places, but calls for entry by individuals who will be faithful to Him. The truth of Revelation 3:20 endures.
Laodicea is mentioned in the Book of Revelation as a church that is wealthy but spiritually lukewarm (Revelation 3:14-22). This admonition from Jesus through John reflects the spiritual state of a community enriched, yet complacent, paralleling the historical narratives of its physical wealth and prosperity. The church has the 21st century stamped all over it.
As the Dragnet parable is about judgement on a worldwide basis, the modern church faces this judgement. The Lord is coming very soon (Rapture, but the deniers of that can consider the Second Coming) and the winnowing fork is in his hand. {{Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”}}. We saw this separation of the wheat and chaff; the sheep and goats; the righteousness and unrighteousness, in earlier Parts of the Dragnet Parable.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LAODICEAN AGE OF THE LATE 20TH CENTURY AND 21ST CENTURY CHURCH:-
When we say, “This is the Laodicean age in Church History, what do we mean by this? The world likes to speak about ages. Do you remember some decades back, “The Age of Aquarius,” and the song associated with that? The spirit of Laodicea is what is determined to be among us in world christendom. In fact, IT IS! We look at some general features the Laodicean church of our age, stands for.
[1.]. The apathetic contentment that causes churches to “settle in”, to become social churches, often functioning as “feel-good fellowships”. They don’t rock the boat or ruffle feathers.
[2.]. The fire and drive of a good number of the Reformers through the past four centuries has gone, and these churches derived from the Reformation are formal and dead, with little or no spiritual life. In fact now, tentacles are put out for dialogue with Islam and the Roman Catholic church, something that would have been unthinkable a century ago and abhorrent to the Reformers.
[3]. “We are rich and need nothing,” means we can have our weekly watered-down dose of God and then rest in a spiritually dead, self-righteousness. Just lie content in the lukewarm, feathered nest.
[4.]. Some want to establish their own name, and build up the church for the Denomination rather than rescuing the perishing and bringing then to Christ. That is full-blown sectarianism.
[5.]. Leaders of denominations are not standing up for biblical principles in society and do not call out WOKE behaviour or Gender Mutilation, or Homosexual Marriage (so called). They acquiesce to public opinion, not to the foundation of scripture.
[6.]. Much of the church is weakened by divisions caused by failure to hold strenuously to the bible and they are racked by personality cults. The great prayer of the Lord is neglected – {{John 17:21-23 “THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE, even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You gave Me I have given to them THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, JUST AS WE ARE ONE - I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity that the world may know that You sent Me, and did love them, even as You loved Me.”}}
[7.]. The modern church is not aware of its deficiencies – like Laodicea, which was blind and naked and functioned that way, not realising their great failure, so too the modern church at the end of the age, is the same. The Lord had to tell Laodicea what they were because they knew not. We need good and great men of God in churches to thunder forth, “Thus saith the Lord!” and turn the people to repentance.
[8.]. The “anything goes” churches are weak and powerless and fractured. What does the Lord require? He wants you to hear Him knocking and open the door for full fellowship and communion. The church accepts the standard of the world with its apathy and greed and selfish contentment. Yet, in all these churches there are overcomers as there were in Laodicea. There are those who have heard the Lord knocking on the outside door and have opened to Him.
[9.]. The greed of money and prosperity in this life only becomes bolder in the minds of some churches, mainly the mega churches. I really believe the small fellowships are the ones who hold to a more correct practice and function in our times, as they care for each other more, and know each other. Giant churches are meaningless and often filled with hype.
WHAT IS REQUIRED?
That is answered from scripture – {{Revelation 3:19 “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. BE ZEALOUS THEREFORE AND REPENT.”}}
Repentance is needed greatly in a sea of apathy and complacency. This is what is required! {{Matthew 16:24-25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS, and follow Me, for whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.”}}. Lukewarmness kills any relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and what is distasteful, He will spew from the mouth.
We are so close to the end of the age. It is time to stop playing church.
