The church that was found in the city of Philadelphia was a weak church. It may have been small compared to the churches in the other cities addressed in these chapters of Revelation. However, they had a little strength; they had not denied our Lord when faced with opposition by the Jewish religious authorities. As a result, our Lord had opened opportunities of service for them. They were exhorted to hold on to what they had because our Lord was soon to return. Today, as then and in any age, it is the weak rather than the strong, the despised instead of the honored, the few opposed to the many that God chooses to use. We are exhorted to hold on to what He has given us and allow His work to continue through us.
The last letter went to the church in Laodicea. Laodicea was one of three closely connected cities found in a river valley. These included Colossae, about 10 miles to the east, and Hierapolis, about 6 miles to the north. There was an extensive Jewish population in Laodicea that became the basis for a large Christian community. The gospel very probably came to Laodicea during Paul’s two-year stay in Ephesus. We have no record he visited this city personally, but one of his disciples, Epaphras, apparently ministered there. In Colossians 4:16, Paul instructed the believers in Colossae to send the epistle written to them, our book of Colossians, to the church in Laodicea and to read the letter Paul had sent to the Laodiceans. This letter has been lost, and we have no record of it, although there is an apocryphal book claiming to be the letter to the Laodiceans.
Of the seven cities mentioned in chapters 2 and 3 of the Book of the Revelation, Laodicea was the wealthiest. It was located at the crossroads of two important trade routes. It was the political and financial center for this area. Its garment industry was famous for its production of fine black wool, much sought after in that day. The citizens of Laodicea were known to pride themselves in this and to dress in black garments of this famous wool. Near this city was a well-known school of medicine that produced an eye salve, known in that day as “Phrygian powder.” This medicine, exported in tablet form throughout the Mediterranean, was thought to cure weak eyes. So wealthy was this city that it refused imperial aid in A.D. 60 when devastated by an earthquake, choosing instead to use its own resources to rebuild, which it did.
One problem this city did have was its water supply. It was more dependent upon an outside water supply than any of the other three cities in this area. Colossae had a cold water well; Hierapolis had hot water springs famous for their healing virtues, but Laodicea had neither. Water from a hot spring five miles away was piped into the city, but when it arrived, it was tepid and foul-tasting due to the extensive minerals dissolved in it. The believers in Laodicea would have known well what our Lord meant when He said they were lukewarm and nauseating.
Our Lord’s message to this church is as follows,
Revelation 3:14-22
| 3:14 | “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: |
| 3:15 | ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. |
| 3:16 | ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. |
| 3:17 | ‘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, |
| 3:18 | 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. |
| 3:19 | ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. |
| 3:20 | ‘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. |
| 3:21 | ‘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. |
| 3:22 | ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ “ |
The Description
The description of our Lord in this letter is the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. "Amen" is a word often heard at the end of a prayer or uttered by someone in response to something they have just heard. It is an affirmation of the prayer or the statement. Literally, it means to let it be. When applied to our Lord, it means He is the affirmation of all that God has decreed. He is the one who has brought it about. He is the faithful and true witness of all that God is. If you want to know what God is like, if you want to know what God's will might be, look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the definitive statement, in His person, in His actions and in His words of who God is and what He requires of us. He is the beginning of the creation of God. It is He, in the perfection of His humanity, that is the beginning, the foundation of a perfect creation that God will someday bring about. This description is appropriate for the church that had left our Lord on the outside and thought themselves to be the zenith of what believers should be. Note that in verse 20, our Lord is pictured on the outside, knocking to come in.
In their pride, this church had begun to think of themselves as a paradigm after which other churches should pattern themselves. They had wealth; they felt they had spiritual insight; they had spiritual health. Outwardly, at least in the eyes of men, they looked successful. Nevertheless, they were looking at themselves with purely human insight. Our Lord reminds them that He and He alone is the standard. He is the “Amen,” the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. He is the example we should follow.
The Declaration
In the declaration of the Lord, there is really nothing that our Lord commends about this church. It is not apostate in that it denies Him or has some faction teaching a heretical doctrine as far as we know. It does not seem to display or flaunt an immoral lifestyle, as did some in some of the other churches. Our Lord does not condemn it for any particular heretical or moral issue. Indeed He says it is not a cold church. It seems to be a church that is financially well off. It seems to be prospering. Yet, there is not one item of praise.
The Problem
The problem was that, while its deeds were not cold, neither were they hot. It was lukewarm, a tepid church. It was not a cold, dead liberal church, but neither was it a hot, fanatical zealot church. What was it? It was more in the middle. It was a safe, conservative, moderate church.
It was a church that had no spiritual vision or insight. It saw itself through its own eyes rather than our Lord’s eyes. It saw itself as rich, wealthy, that is, by the standards of the world! It did not feel itself to be lacking in anything. Our Lord’s opinion concerning this church seems to be harsher than any of the other six churches in some respects. He says the church nauseated Him, that He will spit or vomit it out.
Although this church nauseated our Lord, in this church, there were those whom the Lord loved. These He reproved and advised them to seek His riches, the true gold refined by fire. Seek the garments of righteousness that He has to offer. Seek the eye ointment that He offers that restores true spiritual sight. Our Lord uses physical images with which the people of that day would have been readily familiar. This was a wealthy church, but our Lord exhorts it to buy true riches from Him. We, I think, also need to reassess our thinking when it comes to this. How would we compare some of the mega-churches in our country, or right here in Kansas City, for example, with some churches, say found in rural Mexico, or China or in some impoverished third-world country? Which is wealthier? Which is richer? In terms of the world’s wealth, we know the answer. But what about spiritual wealth? Have we forgotten that God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?
In outward appearance, the church at Laodicea looked good. The believers there dressed well. How do we look today? How do we dress? Do we dress in all the right ways? Do we look spiritual? Do we wear the trappings of our spirituality on the outside, or have we sought the garments of true righteousness from our Lord? Have we forgotten that God does not see as a man sees but looks at the inner man, the heart, rather than the outward appearance?
How is our spiritual vision? Where or who are we looking to for insight and wisdom? I am amazed at the number of books, booklets, C.D.s, DVDs, and such there are out there. Go into any bookstore, and peruse the shelves on spiritual self-help. Go into any Christian bookstore and look? Someone is always asking you, have you read the book by some author? It is truly insightful! We look to the human teachers for wisdom and insight, but how often do we turn to the only one who can indeed restore our vision and cause us to see. How often do we open His book and study it? Have we forgotten that we do not need anyone to teach us but that we have the Holy Spirit within us, who teaches us and guides us into all truth?
The Warning and Exhortations
Our Lord’s warning to this church was that He was about to vomit it out. To those in the church, He advises them to seek the true wealth to be had from Him. He advises them to acquire white (not black!) garments from Him. These would be the garments of righteousness to be had by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. He advises them to get His eye salve in order to cure their spiritual blindness.
To those that overcome would be granted to sit on the throne with our Lord in the kingdom that is about to be instituted. This, again, is something we inherit because of our identification with Jesus Christ, our Lord.
This church represents the modern church from the turn of the century or the First World War onward. In the West, at least, it is a comfortable church, neither too cold in dead formalism nor too hot in fanaticism. It is a safe, conservative, moderate church.
It is the church age in which we now live. It has its buildings and facilities; it has its ministers and staff; it has its programs and ministries; it is growing and prosperous. And while all this may be true outwardly to the physical eye, the spiritual truth is just the opposite. The church is in truth wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. It is clothed in its own righteousness rather than our Lord’s. It has the world’s wealth rather than heavenly treasure. It looks through the eyes of man rather than the eyes of God. This is the age in which we live. Here the Lord is pictured in a way that is very sad. He is on the outside knocking to gain entrance, the very one who is the Amen, the only faithful and true witness to what man ought to be, the very beginning of the creation God has and will establish. In our pride, we have come to believe that we are the measure of what a Christian or a church ought to be.
We need to ask ourselves, as a church and as individuals: What is our spiritual health? What is our appearance, not outwardly but inwardly as our Lord sees us? What is our spiritual vision?
The following is a chart summarizing the letter to the church at Laodicea and then a map of the locations of these seven towns:
The Promise
