Laodicea - The Church that was Lukewarm - Revelation 3:14-22
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we come to the final letter that Jesus dictated to John. It is with some sadness that we finish these letters to the churches, these letters contain the last words of Jesus to the church before the close of the canon of Scripture. I encourage you in the next couple of weeks to go back over these letters and prayerfully consider what is the Spirit says to the churches, what the Spirit is saying to you from these letters.
The church in Sardis Jesus had said was dead, but there was a remnant in the church who had not soiled their garments. The church that we will look at this morning is in my opinion in worse shape than the church of Sardis. The members of the church in Laodicea were very religious and they were very proud of their religiosity and were blind to their true need. Let’s pray and then look at the letter to the seventh and final church.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Revelation 3:14-22, we will finish this chapter up this morning. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Revelation 3:14-22,
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3:14–22, NASB95)[1]
THE AUTHOR, THE CHURCH, THE CITY (Revelation 3:14)
Jesus again begins this letter like He has begun each of the six previous letters, it is again addressed to the angel (messenger) of the church, this leader in the church was to read it to the church, this particular letter was written to the church in Laodicea. As we have in each of the letters we will first look at the description that the author gives of Himself, a description which identifies Him as the risen, glorified, and exalted Lord Jesus Christ. Then we will take a brief look at the church and then look at some of the history of the city.
Jesus begins with this description of Himself, “The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:” (Revelation 3:14b, NASB95)[2] Jesus begins by addressing Himself as the Amen. This is a Hebrew word that was transliterated into Greek and then transliterated into English. This is a unique title that Jesus uses, it is an Old Testament title for God. In Isaiah 65:16, God is twice called the God of truth and in Hebrew it is “the Amen” which is a Hebrew word which means “truth, affirmation, or certainty.” It refers to something that is firm, fixed and unchangeable. In reference to Jesus it speaks of His sovereignty over all things. He is the Amen because He guarantees the truth of any statement He has made, because He is the God of truth incarnate. He is the Amen because He guarantees the execution of any promise made by God, He is the One who confirmed all of God’s promises. What He says or what He promises is truth and will with certainty come to pass, what He says or promises is firm, it is fixed, it is unchangeable.
Second, Jesus calls Himself “the faithful and true Witness.” This title expands on the first title, the fact that Jesus is the Amen, the truth, He only speaks what is true and He is completely trustworthy and reliable. As the faithful and true witness, Jesus Christ, can be trusted to never misrepresent His message, by exaggerating the truth or suppressing the truth. His trustworthiness extends not only to His character, but also to the contents of His message. This description of the Lord Jesus was an appropriate beginning to this letter to the church in Laodicea because it affirmed to them that the Lord Jesus Christ had accurately assessed the spiritual condition of the church, and it also affirmed the His offer of fellowship and salvation was true, because God’s promises are confirmed through His work.
Thirdly, Jesus Christ described Himself as “the Beginning of the creation of God.” Unfortunately, the English does not capture what is being stated here in the Greek. This statement is not saying that Jesus Christ was the first thing that God created, but rather that the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of creation, through His power everything was created. This had to be stated because there was a heretical teaching plaguing the churches in the vicinity of Laodicea, a form of Gnosticism that taught that Jesus Christ was a created being, one of a series of emanations from God. Those who held to this teaching claimed to possess a secret, higher spiritual knowledge above and beyond the simple words of Scripture. By making this statement Jesus was claiming to be the Creator God, not a created being from God.
The New Testament does not record for us anything about the founding of this church, like most of the churches to whom these letters were addressed. It was most likely established during the time that Paul ministered in Ephesus, but it was not founded by Paul because years later when he wrote to the Colossians he mentions the church in Laodicea, but says they have never seen his face, meaning he had never visited there. It is possible that Paul’s co-worker Epaphras who founded the church in nearby Colossae, may have been instrumental in starting the church in Laodicea as well.
Laodicea was one of three cities found in the Lycus valley. Laodicea was about 100 miles east of Ephesus, and was the southernmost of the seven cities, it was about 40 miles south of Philadelphia. It had two sister cities in the Lycus valley, Colossae, about ten miles to the east and Hierapolis, about six miles to the north. The city was located on a plateau several hundred feet high so it was easily defended from attack. The city was founded by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus II and named after his wife. The city’s only vulnerability to attack was the fact that it had to pipe in its water from several miles away through aqueducts that could be blocked up or diverted by a besieging force. Though the original settlers were mostly from Syria, later there was a large Jewish population in the city.
The city prospered under Roman rule, being located strategically at the junction of two important roads, the east-west road from Ephesus to the interior and the north-south road from Pergamum to the southern coast. Because of this it became an important commercial city and became a banking center that brought in much wealth to the city. It became so wealthy that the citizens paid for its reconstruction after a devastating earthquake in 60 A.D. rejecting the offer of financial aid from Rome. The city was also famous for a soft, glossy black wool that it produced. They had a very lucrative garment and carpet business from this wool. The city was also an important city of ancient medicine, the city boasted a medical school that was known for an eye salve they had developed that was exported all over the Roman world. All three industries: finance, wool, and the production of eye salve are brought into this letter to the church in Laodicea. The city of Laodicea lays in ruins today, nearby is the modern industrial city of Denizli, Turkey with a population of about 577, 000 people.
THE CONDEMNATION (Revelation 3:15-17)
When Jesus begins to speak to this church He does not have any word of commendation, it does not even seem that a remnant of faithful believers are in this church. Jesus only has words of rebuke for this church. He begins by letting them know that He has been watching this church, He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16, NASB95)[3] Jesus had taught His disciples that deeds always reveal a person’s true spiritual state. You will know them by their fruits. We understand that salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith alone, but James taught that deeds confirm or deny the presence of genuine salvation. Jesus was saying that the deeds of this church indicated that it was an unbelieving church. Jesus uses a metaphor to describe the condition of the church and He condemned them for being neither cold nor hot, but for being lukewarm. The members of the church would immediately understand what He was saying, the water for the city traveled several miles through an underground aqueduct before reaching the city and when it arrived it was lukewarm. Hierapolis boasted hot springs, Colossae had a cold, refreshing stream for their water supply, the lukewarm water of Laodicea was repulsive. Jesus uses cold, hot and lukewarm water to describe three types of people. Jesus says those that are lukewarm I will spit (the word literally means vomit) I will vomit you out of my mouth. Jesus was saying that the church in Laodicea was making Him sick.
Hot people are those who are spiritually alive, their lives have been transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are on fire for the Lord, they desire to serve Him out of their love for Him and what He did for them on the cross and through His resurrection. Those people who are spiritually cold are those who have rejected Jesus Christ. They have no interest in Christ or the free gift of salvation that He offers, they are not interested in His Word, or His church and they are not afraid to say so, they are not hypocrites.
Those whom Jesus describes as lukewarm are in a category by themselves. They are not saved, but they do not openly reject Jesus Christ. They think they are saved, they attend church, they claim to know the Lord. They are very religious, they are like the Pharisees, because their religion is a self-righteous religion. It is not a relationship with Christ, it is a man-made religion. Jesus says that this sort of religion makes Him sick and He wants to spit them out of His mouth. But His condemnation does not stop here, He also condemns them for their self-righteous assessment of themselves, they believed that because they were rich, because they had become wealthy along with the rest of the city that this was the sign of God’s blessing upon them, and they had need of nothing else, they were secure, they were self-assured and Jesus says that they are so wrong. Spiritually speaking they were spiritually bankrupt, but more than that they were poor, naked and blind. They had bought into the lie of Gnosticism and believed they had reached a higher level of knowledge, but in truth Jesus says they are wretched, miserable, poor, naked, and blind. Jesus said, spiritually you have nothing, your worldly riches are not a sign of my blessing, but rather a stumbling block keeping outside because it makes you self-righteous.
THE COMMAND (Revelation 3:18-20)
There was no reason that the Lord Jesus Christ could not have judged and destroyed this church filled with unbelievers. Instead He offered them salvation by grace. The offer of salvation played on the three features that the city was most noted for: its wealth, its wool production and their famous eye salve. Jesus offered them spiritual gold, spiritual clothes, and spiritual sight.
Jesus is not teaching in this verse that we must earn or buy our salvation, but with a bit of irony, He says to these poor wretches who have no spiritual riches to come buy from Him gold refined by fire. Those who are dead in their trespasses and sins have no way to buy salvation. Our Scripture reading this morning from Isaiah 55 explains that salvation is bought without money. Listen again to Isaiah 55:1, “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 55:1, NASB95)[4] Jesus offers to those who are members of this church the riches of salvation, all three things that He advises the church to receive symbolize true redemption. First, He counseled them to purchase gold refined by fire so that they could become spiritually rich. This gold refers to the purity of the Savior who died for them, Christ was offering them the true salvation that is found in Jesus Christ by believing that He has died, paying the penalty for sin, that He was buried, and that He rose from the dead forever triumphing over sin and death. This is the true gold, refined by fire. Second, the Lord Jesus advised them to buy white garments so they could cover the shame of their nakedness. These white garments represent the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed to us at salvation. These are purchased by surrendering our life to Christ and our sin is credited to Him, which He died to pay for and His righteousness is credited to us. The black wool garments that the city was famous for symbolized the dirty, sinful garments that cover the unsaved. Third, Jesus Christ counsels them to buy eye salve to anoint their eyes that they may have true spiritual insight. The supposed higher spiritual knowledge that they claimed to have was in fact lies that had made them blind to the truth of God’s Word. Like all unbelievers, these church members desperately needed Christ to open their eyes so that they might turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified through Jesus Christ. I like to look at this eye slave as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation that opens are spiritual eyes to the truth of God’s Word.
Some argue that Christ language in verses 19, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline;” (Revelation 3:19a, NASB95)[5] indicates that these were believers to whom Christ was speaking. However, verses 18 and 20 seem to indicate that they are unbelievers who desperately needed the gold of true spiritual riches, the garments of true righteousness, and the eye salve that brings true spiritual understanding. The word translated “reprove” in verse 19 means “to convict or expose one’s faults.” It is a term used by Scripture to speak of God’s dealings with sinners. The word translated “discipline” can and does refer to punishment and convicting of unbelievers that they might come to repentance. Christ loves the church, even if it is full of unbelievers and He is calling them to come to saving faith. If they refuse to repent then He will vomit them out of His mouth, but His desire according to the apostle Peter is that all would come to repentance and salvation. Jesus commands the members of this church to be zealous and repent. Up to this point they have been content to be religious, Jesus says that must change, there must be a turning from sin to serve the Lord Jesus because of an overwhelming hunger and thirst for the righteousness of which Jesus spoke. Salvation must always begin with repentance, an agreeing with God that we are sinners at enmity with Him and that in and of ourselves there is nothing we can do to change that, it is only through Christ death and resurrection that we can be reconciled to God.
The church of Laodicea could only expect Christ to come in judgment, but after calling them to repentance in verse 19 He comes to them in verse 20 with a gracious invitation. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20, NASB95)[6] Though this verse has been used in many evangelists and in tracts and booklets to depict Jesus Christ knocking at the sinner’s heart, the meaning is much broader and more alarming. The door which Jesus Christ is standing at and knocking is not the door of a single human heart, it is the door of a church, in this case the Laodicean church. Christ was outside this church and wanted to be invited in, something that could only happen if the people repented. How many churches today is Christ standing outside and knocking? The invitation is a personal one since salvation is individual. He is knocking on the church door, calling the members to saving faith so that He can enter the church. This verse suggests that there were no believers in this church at all. If one person opened the door by repentance and faith, Christ would enter the church through that individual. Christ offers to dine with those who respond to His knocking and His voice, which speaks of fellowship, communion, and intimacy. The meal referred to here, is the evening meal, the last meal of the day. Jesus Christ is calling the church to repent and have fellowship with Him before the night of judgment fell and it was too late forever.
THE PROMISE AND COUNSEL (Revelation 3:21-22)
The Lord Jesus Christ ends this letter with a promise to the one who overcomes and a word of counsel. Jesus Christ promises that the one who overcomes, that is the one who has agreed with God that they are a sinner deserving hell, but believing that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for their sin, was buried and rose from the dead three days later, thus overcoming sin and the world; to this one Jesus promises to grant this person to sit down with Him on His throne. Just to be with Christ for all eternity is blessing beyond compare, but He offers so much more, promising to share the throne that He shares with His Father. This promise is the truth that we will reign with Him as promised in other places in the New Testament. (1 Cor. 6:3; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10; 20:6)
Jesus Christ closes this seventh and final letter to the churches with the now familiar exhortation, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:22, NASB95)[7] Jesus Christ wants us to hear and obey His words to the churches, as you reflect upon this letter this morning listen to what the Spirit is saying to you and how He is asking you to respond.
CONCLUSION:
Many people want to quickly skim over these letters and get to the part of the book that talks about the future. What they fail to realize is these letters prepare our hearts to receive what the rest of this book has to teach us; these letters are the final words of Jesus Christ to the church before He returns for them. It is no accident that seven times in two chapters the Lord Jesus Christ exhorts us with the words, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We need to examine our hearts in light of the words of these letters. These seven churches represent churches throughout the history of the church, but within each church there can be individuals following or practicing the ways of one or more of the other churches. Open your heart to the Holy Spirit, allow Him to guide you in a self-examination. Be sure of your salvation, that you truly are one who has overcome. This morning we looked at a church that professed faith, but did not possess faith, they had not put their faith in Jesus Christ. They were trusting in religion and being very religious, instead of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Examine you own heart. Are you cold? Are you hot? Are you lukewarm? Are you going through the motions, but there is no fellowship, no connection between you and the Savior? Maybe you have gone to church your whole life, but it was all a false front and you never really repented and put your faith in what Christ did for you in His death and resurrection. I do not want you going into eternity without knowing for sure where you will spend that eternity. Make sure that you know, repent by agreeing with God that you are a sinner deserving hell, but in faith you believe that Jesus died for you, paying the penalty required for your sin, that He was buried and three days later rose from the dead triumphing over sin and death on your behalf. When you believe this, you are saved from the judgment of God, you are one who has overcome, your eternity in heaven is assured.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995