"So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
What a completely inaccurate self-assessment. The church in Laodicea thinks of itself as wealthy, very well-off, and without any apparent needs (Rev 3:17a). But the reality is far different. While this congregation may have an exalted opinion of itself, Jesus describes this church in completely different terms: "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Rev 3:17b). This church is lukewarm and is about to be spit out of Christ's mouth (Rev 3:16). This is the only church about which Jesus has nothing good to say. Sardis also received no word of praise, though they had a few undefiled Christians (Rev 3:4). To Laodicea Jesus must express his love in unmitigated reproof and discipline (Rev 3:19).
Ease, wealth and no threats. As in Sardis, so in Laodicea Jesus mentions no coercion or seduction from pagan idolatry, imperial cult, or synagogue. Nor does he identify a particular theological or ethical threat from within. But Laodicea's boast in its wealth reveals how thoroughly seduced this church has been by the harlot Babylon, who enriches the earth's merchants with her immoral wealth (Rev 18:3) and boasts, "I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn" (Rev 18:7). What Jesus finds repugnant--as repugnant as the city's tepid, polluted, nauseating water sources (Rev 3:16)--is the church's superficial complacency, resting on the delusion that fiscal affluence will insulate it from need. Laodicea's hallucinations of wealth are symptoms of potentially terminal "affluenza." [This is an array of psychological maladies such as isolation, boredom, passivity and lack of motivation engendered in adults, teenagers and children by the possession of great wealth. It is an unhappy condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.]
This is the seventh and final letter addressed by Jesus Christ to his churches in western Asia Minor, the letter to the church in Laodicea. With this letter we come to the end of John's opening vision of the resurrected Christ which began in Rev 1:12 and which ends in chapter three with Jesus' words of encouragement, admonition and rebuke to those congregations struggling to remain faithful in the face of paganism, persecution from the state, as well as from those Jews who lived in significant numbers in several of these cities.
Using the template and pattern for all 7 churches, an overview of the church in Laodicea may be:
- The Church: Lukewarm (Rev 3:16).
- The Christ: The True Witness tells the truth (Rev 3:14).
- The Commendation: NONE.
- The Condemnation: Lukewarm, wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (Rev 3:16-17).
- The Command: Buy gold, clothes, salve (Rev 3:18).
- The Consummation: "I will give the right to sit with me on my throne" (Rev 3:21).
As with each of the 7 letters, Jesus instructs, "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation" (Rev 3:14). This directive makes it clear that Jesus who is Lord of his church, possesses full authority over his individual congregations, and therefore when he speaks to his churches, he does so in this capacity. It is also quite significant that Jesus speaks of himself here as "the Amen" and "the faithful and true witness," especially when the congregation to whom he is writing has such a false estimation of
their own standing before God. Each of these terms overlaps with the others and together they serve to remind the hearer that Jesus is God's word of "Amen," the faithful witness, that One who alone testifies about the true condition of things on earth before his Father in heaven. The point is that
even as Jesus was a faithful witness to Israel when testifying about his Father during his earthly ministry, so now, after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus is a faithful witness to his heavenly father when testifying about the condition of this church. He sees what the Laodiceans do not.
Jesus shames the self-reliant to turn to his inexhaustible resources as the eternity of God. According to the NIV, Jesus is "the ruler of God's creation." A better translation may be the ESV: "the beginning of God's creation" (Col 1:15, 18; Prov 8:22). In Revelation "the beginning" with its complement "the end" expresses the eternity of God, who stands sovereign over history's whole span as "the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Rev 22:13; 21:6). Jesus calls himself "the beginning" to shame their self-reliance and to turn them to his inexhaustible resources. The idea is also that in Christ's resurrection from the dead, the new creation has already begun. Through Christ's conquest of the grave, even now God is removing the curse by breaking the power of sin and death through Christ's sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection. To a church such as that in Laodicea–which trusts in itself, its money and its success–Jesus is confronting them with the truth that he alone can bring true spiritual renewal–"the new creation." He alone can undo the effects of sin. He alone will raise the dead. The Laodiceans must therefore look to him, in whom creation is renewed, rather than rely on temporal and worldly things as they have been doing.
Seduction by the world. Jesus reminds this particular congregation that as the faithful witness he knows their true condition. "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!" (Rev 3:15) Anyone living in Laodicea and who was familiar with the lukewarm and tepid water which came through the cities' aqueduct would have immediately grasped what Jesus was saying. Jesus knows the true state of affairs of this church. The Laodiceans may think of themselves as wealthy and without need. These are the same sentiments echoed by the Harlot in Revelation 18, who has enriched the world's merchants with her wealth, all the while seducing them into unbelief (Rev 18:3, 7). In reality, this church is just like the tepid and bitter water the people of Laodicea were forced to drink on a daily basis.
Being lukewarm is the result of compromising with the world. This explains why Jesus warns this church about its lukewarm condition, as well as why he so pointedly tells them that it would be better if they were either hot or cold. If the church becomes cold, it will see the gospel as a kind of refreshing spring like that which watered the city of Colosse to the east. If the church becomes hot, it will see the gospel as having medicinal value like the springs of Hierapolis to the north. To remain lukewarm then, is a metaphor for continuing to compromise with the spirit of the age in order to attain material success, rather than seeking to please God by remaining faithful to the gospel, which is to be hot or cold.
Complacency is highly offensive to God. What Jesus is talking about is like one who drinks flat Coke at room temperature. "So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Rev 3:16). The complacency toward the things of God and the interest shown in things of this world has rendered this church nothing but a bitter and disgusting taste in our Lord's mouth. So, unless this church repents, the Lord will spit them from his mouth. How can such a congregation be an effective witness to those around them? They cannot. They have compromised to the point that they no longer offend anyone and in the process, sadly, have become an offense to the Lord of the church. They may be a success in the world's eyes, but they are a failure in Christ's estimation.
Equating material blessing with God's favor. They were completely self-deceived and utterly complacent. Perhaps even the adjective "lazy" applies, because of their wealth and success. Jesus then describes this congregation's self-assessment before pointing out to them the very stark reality of their situation: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Rev 3:17). From this description of their true condition, it is clear that because of their success in terms of their wealth and prosperity, this church thinks that it has no needs. Its members have equated material blessing with God's favor. Since they have acquired great wealth and have no apparent material need, they mistakenly assume that they are pleasing God by their conduct.
Thinking one is rich when they are poor. This assertion by Jesus about thinking of themselves as rich when the reality is that they are poor, is based upon some very loud echoes from the OT, especially from those passages where Israel had come to believe that the nation's economic prosperity was supposedly evidence of its healthy spiritual condition. There are a number of instances in the OT where the Jews mistakenly assumed that material prosperity was proof that the nation had been faithful to the covenant, even though material prosperity was seen at the time as a human accomplishment instead of a great blessing from God. The reality was far different from the appearance for Israel even as it is for the church in Laodicea.
The rich think that wealth covers their sin. A place where this same idea can be found is Hosea 12:1-14, where Ephraim had become overly confident because of Israel's wealth. According to Hosea's prophecy, "Ephraim" who is Manasseh's brother, but in Hosea's prophecy, is symbolic of the nation of Israel as a whole, "feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt. The LORD has a charge to bring against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he grasped his brother's heel; as a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there—the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is his name of renown! But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. The merchant uses dishonest scales; he loves to defraud. Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin'" (Hos 12:1-8).
Seemingly having everything but in reality having nothing. Just like the church in Laodicea, "Ephraim boasts, `I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.'. . . But Ephraim has bitterly provoked God to anger; his Lord will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt." As Israel [Ephraim] had become a merchant with no problems with dishonest gain while defrauding her neighbors for the sake of earning a greater profit, so too, the church in Laodicea boasts of its wealth, thinking that its money will cover up its sins. Jesus, however, now exposes the truth. This church is not rich and without need. In fact, it is "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." What is worse, is the fact that the members of this church have not the slightest clue as to their true condition. These people have compromised with the spirit of the age to the point where they are blind to their true condition. Yes, in the eyes of the world, they have prospered greatly. But the economic gains and well-being this compromise has produced obscures the fact that what was lost in the process is the real treasure–the gospel! Not having the gospel means that in Christ's eyes, this church has nothing. It is wretched.
Material prosperity is ultimately worthless. It is with this deplorable condition in mind that in Rev 3:18 Jesus now instructs this church as how to rectify their situation: "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see." Being "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked," the remedy which Christ prescribes for this church must come as a shock to them. They must to come to their senses and give up trusting in their own material prosperity which is ultimately worthless. They must look to Christ, whose ability to supply them with what they truly need is inexhaustible.
Come to Christ, the true riches. The true prosperity of the messianic age is depicted by the prophet Isaiah who writes, "Come, all you who are thirsty; come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost" (Isa 55:1). This transaction is not a conventional purchase, for only those who cannot pay may partake. Everthing we need must be the free gift of the Ruler/Beginning of God's creation In Christ are found all of the riches and treasures of heaven. This treasure is freely offered to us, if we humbly receive it with the empty hands of faith.
Forgetting that true riches comes from the righteousness of Christ. What the Laodiceans truly need is to participate in the new creation through faith in Christ's victory over death and the grave. What they truly need is to be clothed the righteousness of Christ, which he alone has earned for them through the refiner's fire of the cross and the empty tomb and which covers the shameful nakedness (the unrighteousness) of those in this church who have forgotten all about what constitutes the true riches of which Christ is speaking. But the imagery of refining by fire also suggest that the Laodiceans must be purified themselves by removing all those pagan influences from their midst which have lead to their complacency. Therefore, they must clothe themselves with Christ and purify themselves from the influences of the spirit of the age. Furthermore, these people need the salve of the Law and the gospel to open their eyes so that they might see their true condition–wretched, not rich–come to their senses, and repent, before it is too late.
Punishment does not mean being cruel or unloving; a final word before the judgment. Indeed, Jesus is Lord of his church and he will punish all those who do not repent. But this does not mean Jesus is cruel or unloving. On the contrary, Jesus says, "those whom I love I rebuke and discipline" (Rev 3:19a). If Christ cared nothing for his people, he would simply leave this church in its wretched condition and come to them in judgment without any final word of warning. But Paul says that it is God's kindness which leads sinners to repentance (Rom 2:4). Since Jesus loves his people, he rebukes and disciplines them. So, says Jesus to this disobedient and apathetic church, "be earnest, and repent" (Rev 3:19b). These are words of love from the Lord of his church. For they constitute a final word of warning before he brings down his judgment upon this congregation.
Inviting poor dead Christians to fellowship with Christ. That this is the case can be seen in the very next verse when the warning to repent is followed by an amazing invitation to those who do so. "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev 3:20). It is truly an act of grace for Jesus to invite the members of this church to renew their fellowship with him which they claim to enjoy, but which in reality is all but gone.
An invitation to Christians, not non-Christians. This verse is frequently misquoted, as though the context was an evangelistic one: Jesus stands outside the door of the human heart waiting for the person to open the door of their heart to him if only they will accept Christ as their personal savior. But the fact of the matter is that this letter is written to Christians in the church of Laodicea who need to be reminded that their relationship with Christ must be renewed or face the judgment of Christ. In fact, this verse echoes an ancient canticle (song) of a bridegroom who stands outside the door of the bedchamber, knocking, waiting for his wife to admit him. Likewise Christ is asking this church to invite him in so that his relationship with this church might be renewed in all of its fullness. Indeed, having accepted Christ's gracious invitation, Christ will dine with his people, which is most likely a reference to the fellowship of the savior with his people expressed in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. But this invitation must be heeded immediately because Christ is even now standing at the door of this church, knocking, waiting for his people to repent and invite him in to renew their fellowship.
As is the case in all of these letters, to those who repent, heed Christ's warnings and continue to hold fast to that which has been revealed in the gospel, Jesus promises them that they will overcome. Jesus says, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne" (Rev 3:20; NIV 1984). The 2011 NIV says, "To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne." Those who acknowledge that Christ is the faithful witness, and that his testimony about this congregation's spiritual condition is indeed true, Jesus will grant to them the right to rule in his messianic kingdom, a kingdom which dawned at his coming, continues to conquer unbelief despite the opposition from the beast, and a kingdom which will be fully realized at the end of the age, when Jesus returns to judge the world, raise the dead and make all things new.
What is the application? The success of a church cannot be measured by its size, its property and buildings, or its wealth. It must be measured by its faithfulness to the gospel. While the world sees success in terms of numbers, programs, buildings, endowments and bank accounts, such things often times breed complacency and compromise. Indeed the church in Laodicea was able to obtain such wealth only by compromising the gospel message it proclaimed so as to make peace with the prosperous unbelievers around them. Only then did the church in Laodicea prosper. But it was a false success and led them into their lukewarm and pitiful condition.
Seek not success but faithfulness to the gospel. What Christ asks of us as his people is that we seek not success, but that we seek to be faithful to the gospel which he has entrusted to us. Although all good things come from our Father's hand and God may indeed choose to bless certain churches with great prosperity, let us never mistakenly assume that the presence of wealth is the sign that we are being faithful to the will of God. That must be measured by the things we have seen throughout these seven letters:
- whether or not a church preaches the gospel (Rev 3:18),
- whether or not a church drives out false teachers from its midst (Rev 2:2, 14-15),
- whether or not a church loves the brethren, not forsaking its first love (Rev 2:4), and
- whether or not its members will refuse to take the mark of the beast by acknowledging someone other than Christ is Lord, even if that act costs us our lives or our livelihoods (Rev 3:8, 12).
"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev 3:22).
Are you rich in Christ or do you wish for the riches of the world?
Questions:
- What is significant about Christ's three titles that span His entire career (Rev 3:14; 22:13; 21:6; Jn 1:2-4; Col 1:15-18; Heb 1:2)?
- Is there any commendation in this letter? Why or why not? Is there any mention of persecution or trial? What does this suggest? Why does God prefer that we are either "cold or hot" (Rev 3:15)? Why would God want us "cold?"
- Why is lukewarmness so distasteful to God (Rev 3:16)? Could you describe a time in your life when you were lukewarm toward God? What is the appeal of being lukewarm? Why do people sometimes live lukewarm lives? How can you avoid lukewarmness?
- Rev 3:17 says that the Laodiceans think they are rich when they are, in fact, poor. What dangerous mindset develops as a result of wealth? What does this have to do with being lukewarm?
- Why does Jesus advise believers to "buy from Me gold refined by fire" (Rev 3:18)? How is refined gold used in the Bible (Job 23:10; Prov 27:21; Mal 3:2-3; Zech 13:9; 1 Pet 1:6-9)? What might be the purpose of "eye salve" (John 14:26; 1 Cor 2:14-16)?
- How does God treat those he loves (Rev 3:19; Prov 3:11-12; 13:24; Heb 12:5-6)? Is God all cookies and smiles? Give an everyday example. How does Rev 3:20 relate to being lukewarm? What is God's remedy for the tepid soul? Is this verse a call to salvation or fellowship?
- Although Jesus' sternest rebukes and condemnation are directed toward Laodicea, he reserves for her the most glorious and precious promises given to any of the seven churches (Rev 3:21). What is so significant about reigning with Christ (2 Tim 2:12; Phil 2:6-11)?
References:
- Johnson, Dennis E. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation. Pillipsburg: P&R Publishing Company. 2001.
- Sermons on the Book of Revelation. Kim Riddlebarger, Sr. Pastor, Christ Reformed Church. Anaheim.
- The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1-20).
- Christian, Listen Up! (Rev 2:1-3:22).
- Discernment Without Love (Rev 2:1-7): To the Church in Ephesus.
- The Riches of Poverty (Rev 2:8-11): To the Church in Smyrna.
- Keeping God's Word With Little Strength (Rev 3:7-13): To the Church in Philadelphia.
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