Revelation 3: 14 - 22

14 ‘To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Healing, Refreshment and Strength.

This is the last of the seven letters to churches in Revelation 2 and 3. It is written to the church at Laodicea – a prosperous city renowned for banking, making fine clothes and carpets and for medicines. It was six miles from Hierapolis where there were hot springs. The hot water from those springs flowed to Laodicea, and by the time it reached the city it had become lukewarm – not refreshing, and not pleasant to drink.

The hot springs at Hierapolis had healing properties. Meanwhile the very cold springs east of Colossae produced refreshing ice-cold water that renewed strength. The lukewarm water at Laodicea brought neither healing, refreshment nor strength. If you drank it you might well spit it out. This is a picture of what the church at Laodicea was like – bringing no healing, no refreshing nor renewed strength (v. 16).

Last week we looked at Philadelphia – a church that knew it had ‘little strength’, but remained faithful anyway. Today Laodicea is the opposite – they think they have plenty of strength and don’t realise that they do not. They say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But they do not realise that they are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (v. 17). This is the risk for any Christian or church who seems to be strong and rich in the eyes of the world, but lacks the strength that comes from the presence and infilling of the Holy Spirit. We too easily fool ourselves that everything is OK, when it isn’t! That was certainly the case for the church at Laodicea. But it wasn’t all over for the church – in verse 18 Jesus counsels them to come back to him, and in verse 19 he says, ‘Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.’

There are times when God might rebuke and discipline a church or an individual Christian – and if it happens it is because he loves us. We need to be earnest about our desire to go his way and follow him, and to repent when we do the opposite.

Verse 20 is a well-loved verse that people often use in an evangelistic way to individuals: ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.’ And whilst it is true that Jesus knocks on the door of our heart, the context here is that he knocks on the door of the church, and longs to be invited in. May we always open the door to Jesus in our lives and in our church, and be strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for all we have learned from these seven letters. May we apply the teaching to our lives and our church. Please help us, during covid-19 to be a church that brings healing, refreshment and renewal of strength. Amen.