THE BEST PROMISE
Revelation 3:14-22
The Church With Unconscious Need – 1900 AD – Until The Trumpet Sounds 

The Hebrews regarded life as complete when it was full of days and riches and honor. Age was looked upon as a sign of favor. Whenever a nation becomes unspiritual, it reverses this order; the demand is not for old age but for youth. This reversal in the modern life of today is indicative of apostasy, not of advance. Oswald Chambers

As we continue on our journey we come to the last stop on the old Roman postal road, a large city roughly 40 miles from Ephesus. It wasn’t far from Colossae and Hierapolis where the worship of pagan gods was widespread with temples to Zeus, Apollo, Asclepius, Hades, Athena and others amongst a very large and wealthy Jewish population. It was also the wealthiest of the Phrygian cities and was particularly known for its banking, commerce, wool, medical school and its production of a famous eye salve called cellyrium. The city was so wealthy that when it was destroyed by an earthquake in 62 A.D. it refused help from the state and was rebuilt by its wealthy citizens.

However, the city did not defend itself well and as a consequence it became known for its political trickery; surviving by compromising with its enemies. As a result the citizens also learned to compromise and accommodate themselves to the needs and wishes of others. In fact they didn’t stand zealously for anything; a state which the church made a part of its lifestyle—indifference and deception.

The name of the city means “the rule of the people,” which was also a name well placed on the church. It was a church that no longer followed its spiritual leader or the Word of God; it was being led by the people. The church at Laodicea—laos (laiety) diece (decision or rule)—lived by the modern day motto of “I’m okay, you’re okay;” just be happy. The words “sin” and “repentance” were never uttered at the risk of upsetting someone or the peace they had established with the world. They dared not talk about suffering or persecution in fear of upsetting the apple cart.

There is no evidence that Paul ever visited the city but he was certainly concerned about it:

Col 2:1-3 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Col 4:16-17 Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

Laodicea had in the midst of its wealth the neediest of the seven churches, a church full of indifference and spiritual deception; the “apostate” church—the end time church.

Is it possible that this church is alive in the 21^st century?

Rev 3:14 And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 

First it is important—as we shall see later—that this letter is “not” to the church of Laodicea but to the “Laodiceans;” those who were guiding and leading the church. The one who spoke these things to them was the “Amen;” the one that is sure and valid. He is also called the “faithful,” referring to Jesus’ unwavering and unchanging faithfulness that was set forth here in direct contrast to the state in which the Laodiceans found themselves. Because of these qualities He is the “true witness” (alethinos martus), the one who has seen and is competent to relate it; the truth.

2Cor 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

The term “the Beginning” (the King James uses the term “ruler”) is the Greek word arche (the source or origin); the head or governor of all things created (king of creation).

John 1:1-2 In the beginning (arche) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning (arche) with God.

Col 1:15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning (arche), the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Jesus is the only one who has the full authority to address the condition in which the Laodiceans found themselves; the state of lukewarmness.

Rev 3:15-16 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 

I have put these two verses together to make sure we don’t lose the impact of this statement. Jesus immediately set out the issue; the fact that they had completely lost their spiritual bearing and influence. He used an example that could not be misunderstood by anyone in Laodicea.

In order to get water from the hot mineral springs up on Hierapolis down into the city the Laodiceans constructed a long aqueduct, but by the time the water arrived it was lukewarm; not cold enough to drink and not hot enough to wash. It was useless for anything but for the doctors to administer to induce vomiting.

His example made it very clear that if they were hot (zestos; hot to the point of boiling) He could use them or if they were cold (psuchros; cold to the point of freezing) He could deal with them. The problem was that because they were lukewarm—(chilaros; tepid to the point of causing nausea) like their main water supply—they were neither hot enough to use nor cold enough to correct. They were neither pagans nor Christians; neither good nor evil; neither being led by false doctrine nor addicted to the true Word of God. The bottom line was that they were listless and indifferent; they didn’t seem to care whether paganism or Christianity prevailed. The Laodiceans represented a paradox; they had little zeal for their own salvation or that of others but yet they were convicted of the truth and importance of Christ, which they weren’t ready to give up. They were like the man who makes promises and professions that he will never realize and follow through with.

Their being neither cold nor hot refers to the mixing of the two that yields a lukewarm condition; a fatal assumption when it is mistaken for a safe state. They were useless to Christ because they were complacent, self-satisfied and indifferent to the real issues of faith in Him and discipleship. The church as a whole was respectable but nominal and skin-deep with religiosity. It had become irrelevant to man and was generally regarded with complete indifference as, unfortunately, it is becoming in America today. Lukewarm Christians say they are standing for the Lord but they’re afraid to be on fire. They don’t want to be labeled as fanatics or extremists for Jesus yet they have no problem being overly enthusiastic about entertainment, sports and life in general.

Rev 3:17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing‘ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked —  

The real problem in Laodicea wasn’t simply their indifference but their ignorance of their real condition.  The spirit in the world around them had crept into the church and paralyzed them, causing them to totally misread their true condition.

The mistake is often made by those who have an abundance of the world’s goods when they make a profession of religion, they assume that they are well off in everything but are complacent and happy? The problem is that having a great deal of wealth by an individual or a church is more likely to produce the same lukewarmness that existed in the church at Laodicea; the very state of affairs that Jesus said was disgusting and abhorrent.

In all respects their material needs were satisfied. They felt they had enough of everything, which resulted in contentment, complacency and indifference toward their spiritual needs. As it was then it still is today, those who are rich in this world’s goods often feel that they don’t need anything. It’s an illusion among people here in America that if one can just attain wealth he will have everything. They believe that there isn’t any need that can’t be met wealth; they can just sit down in pleasure and rest. Hence we have a pull from the world that encourages putting wealth ahead of everything else; the search for personal peace and comfort.

This is who Jesus is talking to, the plousious (abundantly wealthy), those who are in fact most wretched (talaipooros). What it meant to the Laodiceans was being worn out and fatigued because of hard labor, like someone who labors in a stone quarry or in the mines. Jesus said that they were in the condition of the most abject slaves, where everything one owns has been destroyed or plundered by war, instead of being the children of God they thought they were.

In His sight they were not only wretched but they were miserable (ho eleeinos; most deplorable, to be pitied by all men) and poor (ptoochos; paupers—absolute beggars); no spiritual riches at all. It was a condition sometimes used by the rabbis to express the righteous and the wicked. Their worldly property could not meet the needs of their souls and they didn’t have the religion they needed to meet life’s disasters or death. In the most restrictive sense of the term they were poor.

In addition, they were blind (tuflos; physically and mentally) as the eyes of their understanding were closed; they didn’t see their actual spiritual state. They didn’t see the reality of their condition or the character of God. It reminds me of Paul’s prayer for wisdom for the Ephesians; wisdom that was sorely needed in Laodicea:

Eph 1:17-19 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

And finally the Lord told them that instead of being finely clothed as they thought, they were in fact naked (gumnos; absolutely without clothing; spiritually speaking). Without the image of God they were not clothed with holiness and purity. For a church and a group of believers I can’t think of a more deplorable condition. Unfortunately it’s the true picture of many churches and far too many believers in America today. They walk around clothed like Hans Christian’s emperor. The Laodiceans were the exact opposite to the Smyrnans.

Rev 2:9 “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich) …

Poor, blind and naked refer to the three sources of their miserable condition. It was the condition of not really knowing Christ as Saviour and Lord and as a result, being completely useless to Him. Yet the church was boastful and blind as it accumulated wealth and grew in power and influence in the world. How many churches and Christian organizations are focused on the power of politics today and not the message of the gospel? How much energy is focused on Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court at the expense of the Supreme Lord?

David Jeremiah asks the question:

Will the last army of God consist of precinct workers getting out the vote? Will the soul-winners be replaced with petitioners going into the highways and hedges seeking signatures for some social cause? I am not saying that the Christian should not be involved politically. We should do all we can to change what we can change, but that is not the mission of the church of Jesus Christ … its mission is the redemption of lost souls … we must not be sidetracked from this royal mission of God.

The Laodiceans had become lukewarm because they were blinded by their own self-confidence; self-confidence that had turned them into spiritually empty vessels. They had overestimated their own wealth far too long and the only thing that was going to change that perception was the hard shock of reality; a shock that Jesus gave them. They needed to be told the difference between the state they were in and the state they should be in as they were incapable of seeing it.

Rev 3:18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 

But their case was not hopeless.

1 Peter 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

Jesus told them to buy from Him; not that they could by any worth of their own purchase God’s free gift. The purchase money Jesus wanted consisted of their renouncing all self-righteousness; all those things they thought they had in verse 17. They needed to count the cost of their self-sufficiency:

Phil 3:7-9 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

All of those things that they held so dearly were preventing them from having the relationship with Christ that would far outshine their purported value.

Isa 55:1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

And what were they to buy? Gold refined (tried) in the fire. Jesus wanted them to come and receive from Him—without money—the faith that would stand in every trial. What they had was only imagined wealth and what Jesus offered alone would make them truly rich.

He also offered them white raiment (holiness) to cover their nakedness; putting on fine apparel as a means of honor. There was very little point to their adorning their body with clothes made from their fine black wool if they had nothing to adorn their soul; an error all too common in the church today—a blindness to all that is important in Christ.

The eye here was meant to refer to the inner conscience or the “inner light of the mind.” Jesus told them to anoint thine eyes in a direct reference to the eye salve they produced, for which they were famous and made them wealthy. He wanted them to pray for the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit. Only then would they be convinced of their real condition and realize where their help was. The reference here is with respect to their spiritual vision, what Jesus would furnish would produce the same effect as their eye-salve would in diseased eyes. The gospel enables people who were once blind to see clearly the character of God and the way of salvation.

John 9:25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

The unction of the Holy Spirit, like ancient eye-salves, smarts with conviction of sin when it is first applied but then it heals. Jesus wanted to open their eyes first to their wretched condition and then to His precious grace. What both Sardis and Laodicea needed was not their “eye salve” but spiritual sight, just like the typical modern church that is unconscious of its spiritual needs and content with programs, beautiful buildings and all the material things money can buy.

We are used to Jesus using the term agape as He does in Philadelphia; I have loved thee with love of esteem, founded on judgment. Here however He uses filoo; gratuitous affection, independent of grounds for esteem in the object loved. In the midst of their lukewarmness Jesus reached out and told them that although they had not given Him any reason to love them He still did. But that didn’t mitigate the action He needed to take.

I (elengchoo; emphatically), unlike man, rebuke all those that I love. It is the same verb John used in reference to the Holy Spirit:

John 16:8 And when He has come, He will convict (elegcho) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

For those of us with children we can easily understand the meaning. There is no surer way of allowing a child to end in ruin than to allow him to do as he likes. When we punish our children we do it in love and for the reason of pointing out their mistake. God’s rebuke is just like that, not so much punishment as “illumination.” When Nathan opened David’s eyes to his sin David’s response is why I believe God referred to him as a man after my own heart:

2 Sam 12:13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

For David, nothing else mattered as he recognized that his sin was first and foremost against the Lord. Jesus also says that He chastens (paideuoo; instructs by chastisement). David was rebuked by conviction when he cried out but the chastening followed when his child was taken (2Sam 12:13-14). As Matthew Henry put it: In divine chastening, the sinner at once winces under the rod and learns righteousness.

Heb 12:5-8 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:”My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

The meaning here is that the Lord’s rebuke and chastening is proof of love on His part. If those He calls His friends go astray He is quick to recall them by rebuke and trial. Just like we call back our disobedient children; there is no higher proof of our love than when with great personal pain we administer the board of education to the seat of learning.

The Laodiceans had become lukewarm in their service to the Lord and Jesus woke them up and admonished them that should they lose no time in returning to him. His scathing judgments are but the expression of a deep affection that would lead them to repentance. Their answer to His call was to be zealous (zeleuo; enthusiastic) and repent quickly. We need to heed that warning—a warning and an invitation not to the church at large but to the individuals within it.

Next time we will take a long look at the most critical issue facing the bride of Christ in the 21^st century.