“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” Revelation 3:21
The Lord ends the letter to Laodicea the same way He ends his letters to the other six churches. He reminds them to listen to Him. Having “ears to hear” is used often by the Lord in His teaching ministry. The phrase ”having ears to hear” was a common idiom in
that day. It referred to those people who were ready to act
upon the truth they were given. Thousands of people saw or
hears Jesus when He walked on this earth yet only a few had
“ears to hear”. People heard the words of the Lord but had no interest or spiritual comprehension to act on His words.
The spiritual deafness that was true in Laodicean is true in the age we live in. The light of the gospel is greater than it ever has been. The Lord said in the last days the gospel would be preached to the entire world. Thai is happening now as translations, Gospel books, sermons and videos are being shared across the world. Yet even with this great light hearts are hardening and ears closing as never before. People hear God’s word but mock and scoff at it. They twist it to approve sin that they want their lives. Others hear God’s word and do not like what they hear. It is not inclusive enough, it is too strict or they find the message that they are sinners to be demeaning. Christ faced this same response during His ministry. John tells us that “After this many of his disciples turned back
and no longer walked with him.“
The phrase “he who has ears to hear” only occurs in the Gospels and here in Revelation 2-3. In Revelation we hear the phrase repeated seven times and every time it is said to the Lord’s church.. This tells us a sad truth. One way the Lord’s followers become like the world is that they quit listening to Him. His voice is no louder in our ears than the clamor of the world. We see this truth in the nation of Israel’s story. Moses chastises the people for their hardness of heart and deafness of ears. They were no longer sensitive to the leading of the Lord and soon became enamored with the world around them. This shows us that part of the warfare we fight is against the lust of our own flesh. We hear the things of the Lord and
think we do not need to hear it again. We learn a Bible story and think we know that lesson or have that principle mastered. We get tired of reading the Bible and feel we don’t get anything out of it. So we stop reading God’s word and soon our fellowship with the Lord is gone. The truth is is that our interest in hearing from the Lord goes first. So the Lord warn His followers to hear, to listen. He tells us to think through what He said.
This brings us the to practice of meditating on God’s word – mulling over in our minds the word of God. Many people say they do not hear God speaking to them. Too often we don’t take the time to let the words of God churn in our hearts and to allow the Spirit of God to use the word to guide us in the way we should go. Why do we do this? Often because “the cares of this world” penetrate our lives and the tyranny of the urgent drives out the importance. We forget what is important.
What can we learn? When the Lord says something one time it is important. When He says it twice (Verily, Verily) He really wants us to concentrate on that truth. When He says something seven times in 2 chapters we can sense the urgency of His message – we ignore it at great cost. Solomon told us to “Draw near to hear” the wisdom of God. The Lord tells us that one of the evidences of being truly
saved is hearing. “He that is of God hears God’s words: you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God.” The dead do
not, cannot, hear the Savior. His followers do. But how do we listen? The Lord leaves no doubt. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”. Hearing God is critical for true followers of Christ in every church age but it is of extreme importance in the last church age, the one the Lord has placed us in. There is no better time to purpose in our hearts to walk close to the Lord each day. That takes time. Time to read and meditate on His word and fellowship with Him. We are at war with a godless world around us, it will not help us abide with God. Even our own flesh fights to deter us from it. Christ says hearing is important. Do we believe Him?