Commentary - Revelation 3:14-22

Bird's-eye view

The letter to the church in Laodicea is the final and perhaps most searing of the seven letters in Revelation. It is a divine diagnosis of a church that has become spiritually useless because of its material prosperity and self-satisfaction. Jesus Christ, the ultimate reality, delivers a blistering rebuke to a church wallowing in comfortable unreality. They thought they were rich, but they were spiritually bankrupt. They thought they could see, but they were blind. They thought they were well-dressed, but they were naked and shameful. This is the letter to the church that made Jesus sick.

The central problem in Laodicea is their lukewarmness, a nauseating state of spiritual indifference that Christ threatens to vomit out of His mouth. This is not a church wrestling with heresy or persecution; it is a church that has become so comfortable in its cultural setting that it has lost all spiritual temperature, all zeal, all sense of its desperate need for Christ. The Lord's prescription is severe but gracious: He counsels them to abandon their counterfeit wealth and acquire true spiritual riches from Him. The letter concludes with a famous but often misunderstood invitation, not to an unbeliever's heart, but to the insiders of a deadened church, calling them to repent and return to intimate fellowship with the King who stands outside their own door, knocking.

Outline

Context In Revelation

As the last of the seven letters to the churches in Asia Minor, the message to Laodicea serves as a climactic warning. The letters progress through various spiritual conditions, from the loveless orthodoxy of Ephesus to the persecuted faithfulness of Smyrna, and here they culminate in the affluent apathy of Laodicea. This church represents a particular danger that is always present, but is especially acute in times of peace and prosperity. Situated after the call to the faithful remnant in Philadelphia, Laodicea stands as a stark contrast. While Philadelphia had little strength but kept God's word, Laodicea has great material strength but has effectively abandoned God's word for the idols of comfort and self-sufficiency. This letter sets the stage for the cosmic judgments that will unfold in the rest of the book, demonstrating that Christ's judgment begins with His own house, and that spiritual compromise is as offensive to Him as overt paganism.

Key Issues

The Nauseating Church

The city of Laodicea was famous for three things: it was a major banking center, it produced a fine, glossy black wool, and it was home to a medical school that produced a well-known eye salve. It also had a significant problem with its water supply. Water was piped in from hot springs several miles away, and by the time it arrived in the city, it was tepid, lukewarm, and laden with minerals. The imagery Jesus uses is therefore devastatingly precise and locally potent. He takes the very things they prided themselves on, their wealth, their clothing, and their medicine, and turns them into symbols of their spiritual bankruptcy. And He takes their notoriously bad water and makes it a metaphor for their spiritual state.

A hot spring is useful for bathing and healing. A cold spring is useful for drinking and refreshment. But lukewarm water is useful for nothing but inducing vomit. This is Christ's assessment of the Laodicean church. They were not cold and hostile to the faith, which might at least represent an honest rejection. Nor were they hot and zealous for the faith. They were in the middle, apathetic, self-satisfied, and utterly useless for the kingdom. This is the state that Christ finds most repulsive. It is the condition of a church that has made peace with the world and has therefore declared war on God, whether it realizes it or not.

Verse by Verse Commentary

14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: This is what the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says:

The letter begins by establishing the absolute authority of the speaker, and each title is a direct rebuke to the Laodiceans' condition. He is the Amen, the final word, the ultimate reality. They were living in a delusion of self-sufficiency; He is the truth itself. He is the faithful and true Witness. They were unreliable and false in their testimony; He is the standard of all truth. And He is the Beginning of the creation of God. The Greek word is arche, meaning the source, the origin, the ruler. This does not mean He was the first thing created, as the Arians and modern-day Jehovah's Witnesses falsely claim. It means that all creation began in Him and through Him (John 1:3; Col 1:16). He is the uncreated Creator. This title reminds a church obsessed with material things that He is the one who created all matter, and He holds it all together. Their wealth was a fleeting shadow; He is the eternal substance.

15-16 ‘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.

Christ's knowledge is penetrating: "I know your deeds." And what He sees is a nauseating neutrality. They are neither cold nor hot. Cold water refreshes, and hot water heals. The Laodiceans provided neither refreshment to the weary saint nor healing to the sick sinner. They were utterly ineffective. Christ's wish that they were cold or hot is striking. A "cold" church would be one in open, honest rebellion. You know where you stand with such a person or church. But a lukewarm church is one that professes faith but denies its power, one that mouths the name of Christ but loves the world. This state of self-deceived compromise is so offensive to the Lord that He uses the visceral image of vomiting. "I will spit you out of My mouth." This is a threat of total rejection, of excommunication from the body of Christ.

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 pitiable and poor and blind and naked.

Here is the root of their lukewarmness: arrogant self-sufficiency. Their material prosperity had poisoned their spiritual senses. They conducted a self-assessment and concluded they were wildly successful. "I am rich... have become wealthy... have need of nothing." This is the creed of the man who has forgotten God. But Christ, the True Witness, provides His own assessment, which is the complete opposite. He says they do not even know their true condition. They are not just mistaken; they are ignorant of their own destitution. They are wretched (miserable in their state), pitiable (objects of pity, not envy), poor (spiritually bankrupt), blind (unable to see their condition), and naked (shamefully exposed before God).

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 manifested; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

The Lord's counsel is laced with a sharp, divine irony. He tells these proud bankers to "buy" from Him, knowing full well they are bankrupt and have nothing with which to purchase. The price is repentance and the abandonment of their self-sufficiency. He offers them true wealth in place of their counterfeit substitutes, addressing their three-fold failure. Instead of their worldly gold, He offers gold refined by fire, which is true, saving faith that has been tested and proven. Instead of their fine black wool garments, He offers white garments, which is the imputed righteousness of Christ that alone can cover the shame of our sin. And instead of their famous Phrygian eye salve, He offers spiritual eye salve, the illumination of the Holy Spirit, so that they might truly see their sin and His grace.

19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent.

Lest they think this harsh rebuke is born of contempt, Jesus reveals His motive: it is love. "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline" (cf. Prov 3:12; Heb 12:6). A father who lets his son run into traffic without a word of warning does not love him. God's sharpest rebukes are acts of His tenderest mercy. This severe warning is itself a gift of grace, an opportunity to turn back. The diagnosis is grim, but it is not terminal if the patient will take the medicine. And the prescription is clear: "Therefore be zealous and repent." The opposite of lukewarmness is not some moderate warmth, but zeal, a burning, passionate desire for God's glory. And the path to that zeal is repentance, a complete change of mind and direction.

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.

This is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, and one of the most frequently abused. This is not a picture of Jesus standing at the door of an unbeliever's heart, politely asking for permission to save him. This is a picture of the Lord of the Church standing outside the door of His own church, which has locked Him out. He is knocking, seeking entry into the fellowship of His own people. The call is corporate, to the church, but the response must be individual: "If anyone hears." Revival in a dead church begins when one person, then another, hears the voice of Christ and opens the door. The promise is not for initial salvation, but for restored fellowship. To "dine with him" is a picture of intimate communion and friendship. He is offering to restore the relationship they had abandoned for the love of worldly things.

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.

As with all the letters, this one ends with a magnificent promise to the overcomer. The one who conquers this temptation of affluent apathy will be given the ultimate reward: a share in Christ's own reign. He will sit with Christ on His throne. This is the promise of co-regency. Christ overcame the world, and as a result, He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, exercising all authority in heaven and on earth. He promises that those who follow Him in that victory, who overcome the spirit of the age, will participate in that glorious reign. This is the great hope that should fuel our zeal and motivate our repentance.

22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

The final sentence is the same refrain that concludes all seven letters. The message is from Christ, but it is the Holy Spirit who applies it and gives ears to hear it. And though it was written to a specific church in Laodicea, its message is for the churches, plural. Every church in every age needs to listen carefully to this warning. The temptation to become lukewarm, to grow comfortable and self-satisfied, to mistake material blessing for spiritual health, is a constant danger. We must all have our ears open to what the Spirit is saying.

Application

The letter to Laodicea might as well have been addressed to the Western church in the twenty-first century. We are, by any historical standard, fantastically wealthy. We have need of nothing, or so we think. We have our impressive buildings, our slick programs, our professional staff, and our comfortable lifestyles. And in the midst of all this, we are in grave danger of becoming lukewarm, useless, and nauseating to our Lord.

We must allow the sharp words of Christ to pierce our self-satisfaction. We must look at our deeds and ask if they are hot or cold. Does our church bring refreshing life to the weary? Does it bring healing to the sick? Or is it a social club for the respectable? We must reject the world's definition of wealth and success and learn to see ourselves as Christ sees us. We are utterly bankrupt in ourselves, and our only hope is to "buy" from Him the true riches of faith, righteousness, and spiritual sight. This requires us to repent, to turn away from our love affair with comfort, security, and respectability, and to become zealous for the glory of Christ and the advance of His kingdom.

And we must hear Him knocking. He is not content to be a figurehead whose name is on the sign outside. He demands to be the Lord of the house, the host at the table, the center of our fellowship. We must throw open the doors of our churches and our hearts to His lordship, submitting every area of our lives to His authority. If we do, we will find that He is not a harsh taskmaster, but a loving friend who desires to dine with us. If we overcome our comfortable compromises, we have the promise of sharing in His ultimate victory, reigning with Him on His throne forever.