Chapter 10 Burning with Heavenly Desire

Revelation 3:14-22

We come now to the last of the seven churches of Asia. Perhaps this church is best known of the seven, for Laodicea has become metaphoric for complacent Christianity. This passage also contains one of the better-known verses in Revelation, if not in the entire Bible, to many believers. Ironically, the common evangelical understanding of this verse is exactly the type of lackadaisical practice of the faith the Lord of the church was addressing and rebuking in this passage.

The verse is Revelation 3:20, where Jesus 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.” A common way this verse is used is when the gospel is being presented and it is quoted as the "clincher." Often it is explained to the sinner by saying his heart is like a door that only has a handle on the inside. Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart, so the story goes, and it is now up to the one being evangelized to open the door and let Jesus in. A painting by Holman Hunt called The Light of the World captures this mistaken view, as contained in a heart-shaped border is a picture of Jesus, standing outside a door of a home with no handle, waiting to come in. Those using this verse in this way, trying to express the freedom of the human will, fail to see how this presents Jesus as weak and incapable of saving the sinner without his help. In this picture Jesus has brown hair and a soft, gentle face. If they were trying to truly capture the scene of Revelation, where are the snow-white hair, blazing eyes, and shining face with the sword coming out of His mouth (Revelation 1:14-16)?

Sentimental Christianity that fails to stress the reality of man’s sinful condition and the fiery power of Jesus is the very thing the Lord is addressing in Laodicea! We need to listen carefully. Here Jesus is not speaking to the world, asking lost sinners who need Him to "let Him" save them from their sin. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” we read in verse 22. The Lord is speaking to the church as those who should already know He alone is powerful to save. The context is that He is coming to show love to His church not by coddling her but by correcting her through reproof and discipline (verse 19). May we listen and escape our own complacency!

Jesus pronounces judgment on the church’s lukewarm behavior

Once again, Jesus identifies Himself in imagery relevant to His message as He speaks to the disciples at Laodicea. In verse 14 we again encounter three self-proclaimed titles Jesus uses:

He is “The Amen.” As II Corinthians 1:20 says, “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him (Christ) they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” Christ has fulfilled every promise God has made in the Scriptures, and so the full weight of divine and Biblical authority should be given to the words we are about to hear.
He is the “Faithful and True Witness.” As difficult as it will be for the church at Laodicea and any like her to hear His words of reproof, everything He is about to say to the church is true and spoken out of His faithful love for her good.
He is the “Beginning of All Creation.” This does not imply the Arian teaching that Jesus Himself was the first one made, but rather that He is the one through whom all things find their beginning. One New Testament epistle we know the Laodicean church was to read was Colossians (Colossians 4:16), which says, “ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence” ( Colossians 1:15-18). The One through whom all was made, the One in whom all things are upheld, and the One for whom all things were made is about to speak to this little church. How they better listen, for Jesus speaks to them in language they cannot fail to understand!

We read in Colossians 4:13 of Paul discussing with the church at Colossae the churches in “ Laodicea and Hierapolis.” It was natural for the apostle to refer to these three cities together, for Laodicea was located in a valley between the cities of Hieropolis and Colossae. Hieropolis lay three or four miles to the northeast of Laodicea, across a river up on a plain that had hot mineral waters natural to the city. These waters flowed across the plain then plunged down the face of a cliff to the valley below. The cliffs underneath Hierapolis were white from mineral deposits and faced the city of Laodicea. People would go even as they go to hot springs today to seek the waters’ restorative powers. One can still see clay pipes or aquaducts that carried these mineral waters across the valley to Laodicea. Similarly, Colossae was three miles southwest of Laodicea, and enjoyed year-round cold water flowing down from the melting snows above on the mountains between which it was nestled. These waters were clear and refreshing. They were also further piped down to Laodicea, where in their homes the rich were supposed to enjoy the luxury of having hot and cold water available like the citizens of their neighboring towns. However, in the time it took for the waters to run down to Laodicea, the hot waters of Hieropolis would cool off and the cold Colossian waters were warmed! Here Jesus states in verses 15-16 that this church was neither cold nor hot for Him, but lukewarm like these waters. To Christ the Laodicean church was like warm, salty mineral water which one quickly spews from his mouth.

The people of God are to “taste the Lord and see that He is good” (Psalm 34:8). Yet do we recognize that the Lord does the same to us? He tastes the waters that flow from this congregation, and when His righteous lips and discerning tongue taste lukewarm Christians, it is detestable to Him. He spits or vomits them out of His mouth. What is it that He measures to make the determination whether a church is hot, cold, or lukewarm? He says, “I know your deeds” (verse 15). As we are commanded elsewhere, the church is "never to be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord" (Romans 12:11). Are our deeds done in the church done in service to Him?

The deeds flowing out of the church in this city were good for nothing. They were neither healing nor refreshing. So that you might understand and apply how a church can grow lukewarm in its deeds or duty before Christ, consider the following areas prevalent in our day. I label these “ABCDE,” though certainly examples from every letter of the alphabet could be given.

We can become lukewarm about Abortion . After decades now of seeing our culture kill the innocent at a rate of well over a million of year, we can grow numb to this great wickedness in our land. Guard again becoming complacent. Never lack in zeal to cry out against this evil!
We can become lukewarm about Being Holy. The Sabbath Day is to distinguish us as the people of God, as we visibly separate ourselves from the world and its affairs to honor God. Yet as one pastor has said, "Lacking in our culture is any sense that the day should be treated holy or set apart from common use and devoted to the Lord." The church cannot be holy if it does not take the time, specifically the day, that God has given it to be so.
We can become lukewarm about Creation. So many Christians lack the knowledge of God's word or are unfaithful to its teachings regarding creation. The theory of evolution is absolutely incompatibility with the Biblical teaching of six-day creationism. Despite the terrible fruits evolutionary thought are having in our culture and around the world, sophisticated Christians try to blend these two in theories such as theistic evolution or day-age teachings. They become bland and fail to give full glory to God alone as Creator and Designer of this world in the manner that His word plainly sets forth.
We can become lukewarm about Divorce. Men and women are breaking covenant with the spouse of their youth and breaking vows taken before God, and response of the church has basically been to ignore the sin inherent in the situation and just offer a divorce support group. The church is not decrying the high rate of divorce among Christians and confronting people with Jesus' teaching that divorce is adultery and a disciplinary offense in His church.
We can become lukewarm about Education & Entertainment. Young people in the church are given a godless education and exposed to all sorts of wicked entertainment, and their Christian parents pay no heed to the impact upon their children. In the last message I spoke of the shooting at the church and quoted one young person who thought it was a skit. I did not tell you that was also the reaction of the whole assembly, and that this “prayer gathering” as they called it was in essence a rock concert. The music was so loud that many did not hear the initial gunshots. We must educate our children to fear the Lord by placing a great emphasis on the disciplining of their minds.

Jesus wants to dine with us (verse 20), yet we can make Him so sick by our complacency He cannot stomach our presence. So we best now heed His corrective measures.

Jesus warns the church to listen to correction

A preacher often uses illustrations in order to explain the teaching of a Bible passage. Yet more often than not in Revelation we need teaching to explain the illustrations! Jesus continues to take characteristics of the city of Laodicea to make His points with the church.

Laodicea was known for being quite wealthy. It was the banking center of the Roman Empire, and the great wealth and the ease of life that accompanied it were affecting the church. As Jesus indicates in verse 17, the church was saying, "I am rich, and have acquired wealth." Rather than the broken heartedness and poverty of spirit necessary to disciples of Christ (Matthew 5:3-4), the Laodiceans were proud and believed they had “need of nothing.” The Lord speaks strong words to them, telling them they do not see that they are “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”

To help them see this, He offers three corrections in verse 18. First, like an investor Jesus advises them to “buy gold” – gold from Him that has been refined by fire. This gold to which Jesus refers is acts of obedience and faith that are refined by the persecution they will undoubtedly bring. As I Peter 1:7 states, "the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may (it) be found to result in praise and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Had the Laodicean believers been faithful and not been compromising with the world in their witness, they would have faced trials. The absence of trials and difficulty at such a time in which they were living was proof of their “wretched and miserable” state before the Lord. May we never let our desire for comfort and ease of living we have in this land lead us into this spiritual wretchedness. We need to “buy gold” from Christ by asking Him for faith that will stand against the pressures of this world to conform and compromise. We need to see how miserable and poor we truly are if our faith is so valueless to us that we are not willing to offer our lives up for Christ. “My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him,” says the Lord (Hebrews 10:38).

Not only were the Laodiceans truly poor in Christ’s eyes, but they were also naked. In the fertile valley in which the city of Laodicea lay, black sheep were raised and clothes were made from their Angora-like wool. People dressed very stylishly in their soft, black clothing. Jesus now uses this imagery to offer His second corrective. Despite their beautiful black clothing, Jesus calls them "naked" before Him. He states in verse 18 that they need to cover the shame of their nakedness by being clothed in white, which we have seen in an earlier study are “the righteous acts of the saints” (see Revelation 3:5; 19:8). Is our discipleship seen, or is it of such an invisible nature we stand as naked before God? Do you care for the poor? If so, can you name them? Do you visit the sick? Faces should come to mind. Do you evangelize the lost? Your lips should readily name people you are praying for. Do you clothe the naked? You are to be clothed in these deeds by “buying” them - doing them in His power and following His instructions in the word for how they are to be done.

This church was also blind. In verse 18 Jesus tells them they need to buy an eye salve from Him so they can see. In Laodicea an eye salve was produced there that was used throughout the ancient world. It helped cure certain eye diseases and infections that, left untreated, could result in blindness. Like the Pharisees in John 9:40-41, this Laodicean church thought they could see and properly evaluate their spiritual standing before God. Yet they were blind to their own condition. One aspect of spiritual blindness is a failure to accept correction. Unwillingness exists in our day to be corrected. When those in the Christian community fail to heed correction, it is a dangerous sign. God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:5-11), and certainly this is what the Lord tells this church in verse 19. They need to accept His correction in the love it is given, by overcoming their lukewarm status by being “zealous and repenting.” How willing are you to hear the Word of God, and have your lifestyle corrected by it? Do you see? If so, listen to this promise.

Jesus promises the church she will conquer through communion

Now we return again to verse 20, with Jesus standing at the door. If it is not an evangelistic clincher, then what does it mean?

The explanation is seen in a parable told to us by the Lord in Luke 12:35-40:

“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Given this parable and our context, we see verse 20 is emphasizing that when Jesus visits the church soon, it will be for examination and judgment. From time to time Jesus visits His people and examines them. His Spirit probes more deeply than usual. Difficult circumstances arise that test the reality of their faith. Death suddenly strikes a prominent person in the church. People come into the church and challenge the leadership. We are to be prepared for times such as these by being rich in Christ, clothed in Christ, having our eyes opened by Christ. For Laodicea it was such a time. He was already on the doorstep.

The communion table is supposed to remind us of this truth. We are to partake of this sacrament until He comes. As we anticipate this covenant meal, we are to be readying ourselves for dining with the Lord. It prepares us for the final coming of the Lord, and all the lesser ones in between. Do you desire communion with the Lord? Are you thankful for the time of examination as you sit under the preaching of the Word and the Spirit of God searches you? Do you see a growing measure of zeal to good works for Christ, and a faithfulness to carry them out? Though certainly it is not without pain, do you receive with joy and a sense of God’s love the correction He gives you? Do you repent of your transgressions and unfaithfulness? Does your faith stand up under trial and close examination? When Christ comes, will He find your church eager and ready to throw open the doors for Him because you have been faithful? Or are you fearful of His return because you are failing to repent of your lack of zeal and work for His kingdom?

We learn here that one can truly have an experiential relationship with Christ. You can escape the lifeless, unproductive Christianity practiced by many but benefiting no one. You can dine with Christ! Just as Christ overcame the power of the grave and is now seated with His Father in heaven, so you can overcome the tepid Christianity commonly practiced around you. You can know you are seated with Christ on His throne as you live in kingly obedience to Him (verse 21). You can live to see Christ extending the rule of His kingdom through your life and the life of your congregation. Receiving His correction and communion does this to people. That is His promise!

Conclusion

Revelation is not a book to scare the church about all the evil in the world and all the unfaithfulness in the church. It was not written to call the church to quiver in fear, or escape the world by just letting Jesus in our hearts and shutting the door. This passage and indeed this book was given to show the church that she is to overcome, that whatever Satan and this world bring her way, be it false teachers, immorality, or her own complacency, she has the power in Christ to conquer. In light of that message, no room exists for timidity, fear, or a lukewarm attitude among the people of God. May Christ be exalted and have His way with His church!