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Sunday 10/05/26
Title: To My children in Laodicea, I stand at the door
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To My children in Laodicea, I stand at the door
Laodicea
This morning we are reading the letter Jesus wrote to the final church of the 7 – namely Laodicea.
Revelation 3:14-22,
Turn with me to Revelation 3:14-22, I’m reading from the Holman translation this morning.
“(14) To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
“The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation says:
(15) I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. (16) So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.
(17) Because you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy, and need nothing,’ and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,
(18) I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.
(19) As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline.
So be committed and repent.
(20) Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.
(21) The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father on His throne.
(22) “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Revelation 3:14-22
So, as in all these letters we begin with the answer which is found in Jesus’ Own personal self-disclosure – the names and attributes by which He refers to Himself to these believers.
“The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation”
So what does this self-revelation of Jesus’ person reveal to this church?
The Amen
Not to be overly particular but the first one THE – is both meaningful and impactful.
Jesus is not just AN AMEN, He is THE Amen!
So what is Amen? Well it’s more than you might think.
The Greek word is often rendered as “verily” in the frequently recurring formula of Jesus, “Verily, verily, I say unto you.“
In the Old Testament, it is used often at the end of a sentence as an adverb meaning truly, surely, certainly. So it confirms the preceding words and invokes their fulfillment: “so be it,”.
It is used also in oaths or imprecations being equivalent to a binding promise.
In the entire New Testament, only the Lord Jesus uses amḗn at the BEGINNING of a sentence as a word of affirmation.
Throughout the Gospel of John, the Lord uses the word amḗn, doubled in John 1:51, “Amen, amen, I say unto you,” or “Verily, verily, I say unto you,” which could be rendered, “I, Who am the Amen [Truth itself] tell you as a most certain and infallible truth“.
Here in Revelation 3:14, it is used as a noun referring to our Lord Jesus with the implication of His faithfulness and His being the true witness.
Faithful and True witness
This is one of my most cherished revelations of Jesus in the entire book of Revelation. These names, which give testimony to the very attributes of His person and character and by which He will be called when He rides down to make war and establish the millennial kingdom, are “Faithful and True”.
“(11) Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
(12) His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knows except Himself.
(13) He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is called the Word of God.
(14) The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. (15) From His mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it He might strike the nations.
He will shepherd them with an iron scepter.
He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. (16) And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” – Revelation 19:11-16
Now in most places the words “faithful witness” is referring to one’s testimony whether it be before a court trial, or non-judicially as an eye-witness of events and in that light it is also used for those who preach the gospel evangelistically. This is also used regarding the overall communication of the lives lived by those faithful to Christ – in accordance with and as a testimony of the truth of the Gospel.
When used as a noun referring to the Lord Jesus, as it is here, the context may play a minor role in any nuanced meaning, but when the Eternal God and pre-existing Living Word is standing in His office as Jesus the Christ and Lord He is standing there in His Humanity and is therefore not representing Himself but the Father Who sent Him and that is true even now.
So when we read this throughout the New Testament, even here in Revelation after His resurrection and ascension and having been given all power and authority in His name, it is still always a reference to His being a clear representation of the person, plan, intentions and judgments of the Father and the truth of His intentions with the Jews, the church and the world.
Now part of what I said needs a little clarification.
When I say Jesus is a clear representation of the judgments of the Father I do not mean that the Father is the one judging – even vicariously.
Now this may seem like a tedious and nuanced parsing of facts but it’s in the middle of this understanding that we gain glimpses into the relationship, the eternal koinonia and perichoresis relationship that has existed in the Trinity from eternity past.
In this case it would be limited to that which exists between the Father and the Son – Jesus Christ without immediate reference to the Holy Spirit. It is invaluable and somewhat complex since now Jesus is no longer just God but is also human.
The dynamic of that relationship is utterly unique. Nothing else is truly like it and so it requires and deserves a little further investigation, study and explanation to offer it the references to and the clarity that helps us better understand the Godhead. It also outfits us with the appropriate response of reverence which should arise from our hearts in light of this knowledge.
Turn with me to John 5:18-32.
As you are turning I want to share this with you.
When I was writing out the definition I just gave you for Jesus being the true Witness and I got to that part where He represents the judgments of the Father, immediately the Holy Spirit quoted this verse in John 5 to my heart which says,
“He has committed all judgment to the Son”.
And even before he quoted that, I had a little bit of a check in my spirit when I was writing the words and I knew it wasn’t 100% correct though it wasn’t completely false either.
Then, when I actually committed the thought to paper is when this verse arose in my heart and I looked it up. And it became a place for me to worship all three parts of the trinity right there during my time of study.
To worship the Father for the beauty and purity of Who He is and how He Owns Who He is with no apology – He is true and the truth!
To worship the Son because He is such a faithful Witness to the Father even in the way that He executes His office with impunity and autonomy. Even in that He still represents the Father and His heart Who gave Him that Authority as a human though Jesus is also God.
To worship the precious Holy Spirit Who in her beautiful, relationally deferring ways, always clarifies the Beauty and Majesty of the persons of the Father and the Son. Who they are, the expressions of their hearts and Authority and the way in which we can enter into that perichoresis dance by properly ordering our conduct within the sphere of worship that properly holds them and deep in eternal reverence.
I was reduced to tears and murmuring over and over... “You are so beautiful, You are so beautiful… thank You, thank You, thank You”
Now I share that with you in part, because it’s a vulnerable insight into my interactions with the Holy Spirit as I was studying yesterday. But more so because it shows the purity and perfections of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise that the Holy Spirit He was sending into our hearts, would lead and guide us into all truth. That He would not speak of Himself or with His Own authority.
It reminds me of how God said to the angels who were with him before he went to judge Sodom and Gomorrah,
“(17) The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, (18) seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” – Genesis 18:17-18
Only with us, Their reason – though also covenant based, is due to the fact that we are His offspring and those who will co-rule with Him.
Do you see it?
We have been so privileged… so honored… as to be invited into the family of God! By which I don’t mean the Greater Community in heaven which includes angels and seraphim and cherubs and perhaps other beings which defy description that are not even written in Scripture and who are beautiful in their own Perfections and holy in ways that right now we can’t even contemplate. But I mean His direct lineage. We have been brought into the inner circle of the Trinity! Not as one of Them but as Their direct offspring. Ever created but ever part of and in union with the Creator in a way that only an offspring could.
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God.” as our beloved John wrote so many years ago.
Anyway, have you arrived at John chapter 5?
Let’s read it beginning in verse 18.
John 5:18-32,
“(18) This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His Own Father, making Himself equal with God.
(19) So Jesus said to them,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His Own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
(20) For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him, so that you may marvel.
(21) For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. (22) For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, (23) that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father Who sent Him.
(24) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
(25) “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
(26) For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself. (27) And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
(28) Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice (29) and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
(30) “I can do nothing on My Own.
As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I seek not My Own will but the will of Him Who sent Me.
(31) If I alone bear witness about Myself, My testimony is not true. (32) There is another Who bears witness about Me, and I know that the testimony that He bears about Me is true.”
Then finally Jesus identifies Himself as the “Originator of God’s creation” though some word it confusingly as the “Beginning (of creation)”.
The word translated as “beginning” here is:
ἀρχή archḗ; gen. archḗs. Archḗ denotes an actusative cause, as in Col 1:18; Rev 3:14 (cf. Rev 1:8; Rev 21:6; Rev 22:13). Christ is called “the beginning” because He is the efficient cause of the creation; “the head” because He is BEFORE all things, and all things were created by Him and for Him (Joh 1:1-3; Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:10).
When it does not refer to a restrictive event, situation or time, it is used in an absolute sense as in John 1:1-3 which has a bearing on how it is used here,
“(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning. (3) All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.” – John 1:1-3
Here it means before there was any beginning whatsoever, the Word had been. There is no article before the word archḗ.
Before the creation of the world there had been only the Godhead, the second person of which is the Living Word, Jesus the Creator.
“(15) I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. (16) So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.”
Hot, cold & lukewarm
I put more time into this than I wish I had for all the good it did me. What I discovered was that almost everything I’ve ever heard about Laodicea and this letter to them from Jesus in particular is speculative, anecdotal or simply flat wrong.
The typical party line is that Laodicea was an affluent city, whose main export was an eye salve for ocular ailments. They had no natural water supply so they had to have their water piped in from other places which caused their water to be unpalatable in the extreme in that it was tepid and lukewarm. Some claims are that the one source of water Laodicea DID possess were natural hot water mineral springs which were healing in nature. The belief being that the Hot in Jesus’ statement represented something good, wholesome and healing while the cold represented something bad and the lukewarm was some complacent middle ground in-between.
As to what I could confirm…
There is no proof, that is empirical in nature, that there was ever a hospital, a medical training facility or any industry that produced any type of eye salve whatsoever – and strictly speaking this letter from Jesus to Laodicea doesn’t claim it ever did.
Additionally there is no evidence of the city containing hot Mineral Springs – medicinal or otherwise.
There is no proof beyond that which is just a mere inference that the water that traveled nearly 8 miles to get there was particularly lukewarm.
In fact the only inference I could find that had anything approaching real support was the need to warm the water during certain times of the year because the terracotta pipelines went through areas that got exceedingly cold during the winter and could therefore freeze. Which while that might mean that there were times during the year that their water would have been cold it would not have been a welcomed cold because in Rome,as in other parts of the world, cold drinks are desirable during the heat of summer and hot drinks in the cool of winter. This would have provided the exact opposite!
So far as I was able to tell, this statement of Jesus was not spoken as if there was anything in the day-to-day lives of a Laodicean, in the services they provided in textile or in the preparation for the textiles they produced that were specifically and uniquely germane to Laodicea.
That having been said, Laodicea was very well known for the superiority of their wool.
However the process of dying wool would have followed the same rules in Laodicea as it did anywhere else in that time period in that part of the world and hot water was part of that process. However there is no reliable record that Laodiceans ever dyed their wool. It was naturally raven black.
The claim that Laodicean wool had a high reputation, as black and soft, is solidly supported for the decades before and around the time of this letter.
Claims that it was of better quality than others, or about how much revenue it brought, rest on the testimony of Strabo alone.
Strabo was a Greek geographer who was born in Asia Minor who lived from around 64BC-24 AD.
He is best known for his written account of the history of people and places throughout different regions during his lifetime which called “Geographica”.
Though we do know that the city of Laodicea was wealthy and it is reported that much of this was directly tied to their textile industry – that is about all we can say which has any obvious connection with this passage.
Independent testimonies:
Strabo (12.8.16): He says the sheep around Laodicea produced wool that was both softer than Milesian wool and raven-black, and that this brought the city splendid revenue. He describes the city as having grown large in his own time and his fathers’ time. This account was roughly within one lifetime of 90 AD.
Pliny (Natural History 8.190): Pliny published in 77–79AD, about a dozen years before this letter. He ranks Apulian wool first and Milesian third. He says Laodicean fleeces belong to the same kind as the top-reputation Tarentine and Canusian wools.
What the evidence supports: The letter’s wording treats hot and cold alike as desirable and good while mentioning lukewarm as negative and rejected.
The drinking practice in the Roman world valued hot and cold over tepid. Those two points fit together without any need or reference to any special conditions of the Laodicean water supply.
So, assuming that this IS the intended connection, Jesus was saying that you are never what you ought to be or what would be useful and desirable. Rather than being hot when it is cold out which would be comforting and useful, or cold when it is hot out which would be life giving and refreshing – you remain consistently and uselessly lukewarm.
Next Jesus says,
“(17) Because you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy, and need nothing,’ and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,”
This offers clarity for what real life condition of heart the former Hot, Cold and Lukewarm analogy was pointing to.
Jesus informs these believers of the real danger they are in.
And that is a place of deep deception.
You believe you are wealthy and you are poor.
But the real damning thing was their belief that they were in need of nothing. When in reality they were in dire straights being wretched, pitiable, destitute, blind and naked.
This is the worst danger any believer could be in.
To be in danger is bad, to not know it is worse, to think you are actually thriving when you are near death is deadly and that is where these believers were.
These were the third heart in the parable of the heart soils.
The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for things rather than Christ had choked out the word they had and Jesus in His shepherd/father/friend love is mercifully giving them one more fresh word… One more seed in their heart to which they can respond if they only will.
This is the danger John addressed in 1 John 2:15-17,
“(15) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world. (17) And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
I’m reminded of the song ‘Living in Laodicea’ by Steve Camp,
Oh Lord, take Your plow to my fallow ground
Let Your blade dig down to the soil of my soul
For I’ve become dry and dusty
And Lord, I know there must be richer earth lying below
For I’ve been living in Laodicea
And the fire that once burned bright, I’ve let it grow dim
And the very One I swore that I would die for
Oh, has been forgotten as the world’s become a friend
Oh, oh
We have turned from Your law to try to find a better way
Each man does today what is right in his own eyes
And we will pay the price for our sinning
We can never know true living
We’ve exchanged His truth for lies
We’ve been living in Laodicea
And the fire that once burned bright, we’ve let it grow dim
And the very One we swore that we would die for
Oh, has been forgotten as the world’s become a friend
It is no small of a thing that He’s done for you
By shutting the gates of hell upon a cross
We were sentenced once, but now we are pardoned
And He chose us to use us though we fall
So while we’re living in Laodicea
Keep the fire burning bright, don’t let it grow dim
For the very One we swore that we would die for
He must not be forgotten, fear the world become a friend’
He calls their condition wretched & pitiable. Wretched means to suffer from spiritually and emotionally misery. Some of tr most miserable people in the world, possess everything the world has to offer.
So Jesus counsels them saying,
“(18) I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.”
Buy from Me the purity of godliness or god-likeness (gold) approved character, righteousness acts (cloths), the counsel and guidance of the Holy Spirit to have eyes to see and a heart of discernment.
There is a connection between the “shameful nakedness” and Jesus’ use of the word ‘rebuke’ in a moment. In fact, His rebuke IS the cure for their shame.
“(19) As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline.”
“As many as I love”
This is beautiful and counter intuitive in that this is NOT the word agape. It is the word
φιλέω philéō which in general usage means loved, dear, friend. When used transitively as it is here in Revelation 3:14 it is with the accusative of person meaning – to have affection for someone (Matthew 10:37; John 5:20; 11:3, 36; 15:19; 16:27; 20:2; 21:15-17; 1 Cor. 16:22; Titus 3:15, with Christian love; Rev 3:19; Sept.: Gen 37:4; Pro 8:17).
Rebuke
ἐλέγχω elégchō; fut. elégxō. In the New Testament, to convict, to prove one in the wrong and thus to shame him. By implication, to reprove, rebuke, admonish (Matt. 18:15; Luk 3:19; 1 Tim. 5:20; 2 Tim. 4:2; Sept.: Gen 21:25; Pro 9:8). To reprove by chastisement, correct, chastise in a moral sense (Rev 3:19);
Discipline / Chasten
παιδεύω paideúō; fut. paideúsō, from país (G3816), child. Originally to bring up a child, to educate. It is used of activity directed toward the moral and spiritual nurture and training of the child, to influence conscious will and action. To instruct, particularly a child or youth (Acts 7:22; 22:3; 2 Tim. 2:25 [cf. Titus 2:12]); to instruct by chastisement (1 Tim. 1:20; Sept.: Psa 2:10); to correct, chastise (Luke 23:16, 22; 1 Cor. 11:32; 2 Cor. 6:9; Heb. 12:6; Rev. 3:19 [cf. Pro 3:12]).
“So be committed and repent.”
As in all the letters the appeal is relational and towards surrender and loyalty to God. This isn’t, but could be said this way, “show your repentance is genuine through ongoing loyalty to Me.”
“(20) Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.”
This is often used as an evangelistic verse, and while that is not a good symbolic use for it, it is NOT what Jesus was saying. These people are His church, His children, His bride. The invitation is not to come and know Him initially, but to return to health and a relationship of commitment to Him where He becomes your stamp of authenticity and mark of approval rather than temporal, earthly considerations.
These people had fallen into the trap of the third heart in the parable of the heart soils.
Jesus then encourages them with the rewards of overcoming.
“(21) The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father on His throne.
(22) “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Revelation 3:14-22
The one who responded in proper alignment with My influence and authority in their lives, will be given the honor of aiding Me in Me kingdom towards the same end in others.
Whoever has ears to hear, had better listen to what the Holy Spirit says to the churches!
