Purpose

IPO commonly stands for Initial Public Offering. It is a process of launching a company publicly through a stock exchange. When the  lukewarm church is willing to pay the price, there are three things that Yashua commands the Laodecia to do in the message to the church in Rev 3:18. It can be summarized with a different IPO.

The IPO in Revelation stands for three things–a new Identity, new Perspective and Overconfidence in God.

A revolution is about change to one’s old identity, old perspective and confidence in self. These three things causes a believer to become a radical. It creates a counterculture within the existing church and positions you to be part of the revolution.

Yashua counsels us to buy a new identity, new perspective and new confidence in the Lord. The word buy also means to redeem. Redemption involves sacrificing one’s will and life just like Christ gave up His life to redeem us. Buying has a cost. The cost of redemption is life. Salvation is free. However to live as a radical Christian is to give up our existing life for the sake of love of God.

The white garments

As the few from the Laodecian church are willing to buy the three things Yashua admonishes they become the change agents of the existing church culture. The first thing to exhange is our old identity. Identity is compared to one’s garments. It is the analogy Yashua uses in Rev 3:18. The only identity that Lord recognizes is the white garment that He provides. Without the white garments all are considered naked. All have sinned and come short of God’s glory. Any amount of talent, hard work, and good works without the white garments do not impress Him at all. The man without the wedding garment was thrown into the outer darkness in Matthew 22:13, another reference Yashua made to garments. Some scholars believe that the king provided the proper attire for his guests. The king becomes furious upon seeing that this one man deliberately refused to receive the generous gesture of the king. We are all given the white garments at the cost of Christ’s atonement and all we are asked to do is to receive and wear it unless be found naked in His eyes–which is His righteousness.

Eye-ointment

The second exchange is to receive a new perspective from the Lord. Changing our old perspective is a shift from walking by sight to walking by faith. It is when we start to see things from God’s perspective. In eye care, collyrium is a lotion consisting of a solution used as a cleanser for the eyes. It comes from the Greek word kollourion. It is the same word translated as eye-salve in Rev 3:18. Yashua urges us to buy eye-salve from Him to cleanse our eyes so that we can see from His perspective than from our existing perspective. Yashua saw beyond what the physical eyes saw. His perception was beyond the natural visibility. He said Lazarus was sleeping when Lazarus was literally dead. The same Lazarus came back to life in four days as Yashua foresaw a living Lazarus as He was walking with a heavenly or new perspective. In another instance, Yashua asked the disciples to cast the net on the right side when they had a great catch. Just moments before the disciples was fishing in that same spot but had caught nothing (Jn 21:3-6). What had happened?

Overconfidence in God

The change from self-strength to overconfidence in God is the gold tried out of fire. To change the dependence on ourselves is the hardest of all. The system of provision is constantly fed through a self-made or independent nature outside of God. Gold is allegorical to faith in the Bible. The trial of your faith is much more precious than that of gold says 1 Peter 1:7.

Faith is not a commodity that is measurable rather a catalyst that triggers grace. Grace is nothing but Christ’s exchanged-life for us. It is a trade-in offer on the basis of atonement or our new garment which is based on His righteousness. In other words, gold that is tried out of fire is when our faith is purified from impurities through trials. Such faith triggers the exchanged life of Christ in us. Such faith transitions from a self-confident faith to over-confidence in God.

All of us living in this broken world start out with a tainted faith. Faith is a precious metal hidden in our heart. Just like gold is mined from ores, a chemical compound from other elements, our faith has to go through a smelting as gold is freed from oxidizing elements. Our faith is like gold particles hidden in the ores that needs to be refined.

Pure gold is also a great catalyst. It is used in chemical reactions to produce energy. Likewise faith is also a great catalyst. Purified faith is used to release energy in every situation activating the exchanged life of Christ within a believer. The Bible also compares faith to a seed. Gold needs to go through a purification process. A seed over time matures to a fruit. Likewise faith takes time to mature and become strong.

The garments of His righteousness are our privileged position. Diligently strive to live of His righteousness and not on any of our human wits. Having His perspective enables us to see all situations from God’s position and to act on it. Faith tried in fire is our provision for life. Yashua advises that we buy all three to become a radical believer in our generation.

The new identity, new perspective and overconfidence leads a counter-culture movement as we position to usher in the greatest harvest of our lifetime.

The two-fold purpose of a kingdom movement

Movement is coming out of the status quo church (Laodecian) so that we can be a counter-culture in our generation and bringing in the rest of the remnant that newly join.

A remnant from the status quo church is crying out for full liberation. They wish to come out fully consecrated to the Lord (no more half-in and half-out). The Kingdom of God movement is about the creation of a set of realignments, new definitions of values and objectives coming out of the Laodecian church to become consecrated as the true bride or the remnant church.

A harvest from the world outside is crying for the manifestation of the sons of God in Rom 8:21-22. They are waiting to fully embrace the true salvation. They are not impressed with the powerless gospel of a status quo church. As a result both the radical and the new harvest groups rise up as one man in Christ in this season. If the IPO is about launching a company in a stock exchange the real IPO can launch your life to your god-given destiny.