Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church 2080 West Grand Boulevard Detroit, Michigan 48208 Pastor Nathan Johnson, D.D., Senior Pastor
Pastor’s Bible Study A Bible Study Series Based on the book "Revelation Four Views" by Steve Gregg
Part I The Seven Letters Revelation 1–3 Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
““Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: “The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation says: I know your works, 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 am going to vomit you out of My mouth. 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, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, 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.
As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent. 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. 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. “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”” (Revelation 3:14–22, HCSB)
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
Laodicea, by all accounts a very prosperous city in John’s day, was noteworthy on a number of counts. It was a banking center, which is obviously related to its general wealth. Laodicea also was a producer of black wool clothing and carpets. The city was the location of a famous medical school and the producer of a powder substance used to treat ailments of the eye. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The city’s water supply originated from hot springs six miles away at Denizli. In the process of traveling through the aqueduct to Laodicea, the water became tepid—neither hot nor cold. Allusions to these local distinctives may be detected in Christ’s choice of words used to address the church of the Laodiceans (v. 14). Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The state of the church in Laodicea was one of self-satisfaction and complacency. Apparently the Christians, like the city itself, enjoyed a high degree of comfort and prosperity—a factor that led to a diminished zeal for the things of God. The letter to the Laodiceans shares with Sardis the unhappy distinction of lacking any commendation from the Lord. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency As in the letter to the church at Philadelphia, Christ did not identify Himself using any of the phrases from the vision recorded in 1:12-17. Instead, He identified Himself using three divine titles. First, the Lord Jesus Christ described Himself as the Amen. That unique title, used only here in Scripture to describe Christ, is reminiscent of Isaiah 65:16, where God is twice called the "God of truth [Heb. amen]." Amen is a transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "truth," "affirmation," or "certainty." It refers to that which is firm, fixed, and unchangeable. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency Christ is certainly the Amen in the sense that He is the God of truth incarnate. But there is more in this rich title than just an affirmation of His deity. In 2 Corinthians 1:20 Paul writes concerning Jesus Christ, "For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us." It is through the person and work of Christ that all God's promises and covenants are fulfilled and guaranteed. All the Old Testament promises of forgiveness, mercy, lovingkindness, grace, hope, and eternal life are bound up in Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection. He is the Amen because He is the One who confirmed all of God's promises. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
Christ also identified Himself as the faithful and true Witness. That title further elucidates the thought expressed in the first title. Not only is Jesus the Amen because of His work, but also because everything He speaks is the truth. He is completely trustworthy, perfectly accurate, and His testimony is always reliable. Jesus Christ is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6; emphasis added). This was an appropriate way to begin the letter to the Laodiceans because it affirmed to them that Christ had accurately assessed their unredeemed condition. It also affirmed that His offer of fellowship and salvation in verse 20 was true, because God's promises were confirmed through His work. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency Finally, Christ referred to Himself as the Beginning of the creation of God. The English translation is somewhat ambiguous and misleading. As a result, false teachers seeking to deny Christ's deity have attempted to use this verse to prove He is a created being. There is no ambiguity in the Greek text, however. Archē (Beginning) does not mean that Christ was the first person God created, but rather that Christ Himself is the source or origin of creation (cf. Rev. 22:13). Through His power everything was created (John 1:3; Heb. 1:2). The risen Lord may now be appealing to the Laodiceans’ knowledge of the Epistle to the Colossians.) Christ as supreme Creator and Ruler of the universe has every right to critique his wayward church. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency “I know your works, 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 am going to vomit you out of My mouth. 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,” (Revelation 3:15–17, HCSB)
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
Since there was nothing for which to commend this unregenerate church, Christ launched directly into His concerns. Deeds always reveal people's true spiritual state, as indicated by the Lord's words "you will know them by their fruits" (Matt. 7:16; cf. Rom. 2:6-8). Though salvation is wholly by God's grace through faith alone, deeds confirm or deny the presence of genuine salvation (James 2:14ff.). The omniscient Lord Jesus Christ knew the Laodiceans' deeds and that they indicated an unregenerate church. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency In comparing the spiritual state of the church to the nauseating tepid waters of the city, Jesus describes the community of believers negatively as neither cold nor hot (v. 15), and, positively, as lukewarm (v. 16). No direct explanation tells how this metaphor corresponds to a spiritual state, but the command to be zealous and repent (v. 19) suggests that the luke-warmness represents a deficiency in zeal for Christ.
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
Christ rebuked them for being neither cold nor hot but lukewarm. His metaphorical language is drawn from Laodicea's water supply. Because it traveled several miles through an underground aqueduct before reaching the city, the water arrived foul, dirty, and tepid. It was not hot enough to relax and restore, like the hot springs at Hierapolis. Nor was it cold and refreshing, like the stream water at Colossae. Laodicea's lukewarm water was in a useless condition.
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
The statement, I could wish you were cold or hot (v. 15), raises the startling prospect that Jesus, though wishing for all believers to be hot, would actually find coldness less offensive than lukewarmness. Perhaps we should not find this too surprising. Those who zealously oppose Christ (cold), and those who zealously serve Him (hot), have one thing in common: they both take Him seriously. The one who neither opposes nor serves offers Christ the ultimate insult— affirming His existence, but not taking Him seriously. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The lukewarm fit into neither category. They are not genuinely saved, yet they do not openly reject the gospel. They attend church and claim to know the Lord. Like the Pharisees, they are content to practice a self-righteous religion; they are hypocrites playing games. The Lord Jesus Christ described such people in Matthew 7:22-23: "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" The lukewarm are like the unbelieving Jews of whom Paul lamented, "For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge" (Rom. 10:2). They are those who "[hold] to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power" (2 Tim. 3:5). Such obnoxious hypocrisy nauseates Christ.
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency These smug, self-righteous hypocrites are far more difficult to reach with the gospel than cold-hearted rejecters. The latter may at least be shown that they are lost. But those who self-righteously think that they are saved are often protective of their religious feelings and unwilling to recognize their real condition. They are not cold enough to feel the bitter sting of their sin. Consequently, there is no one further from the truth than the one who makes an idle profession but never experiences genuine saving faith. No one is harder to reach for Christ than a false Christian. Jesus' paralleling critique of the self-righteous, self-deceived Pharisees and Sadducees was that "the tax collectors and prostitutes [would] get into the kingdom of God before [them]" (Matt. 21:31).
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The general attitude of the church is represented in the quote: ‘I am rich … and have need of nothing’ (v. 17). Wealth has a way of imparting a false sense of self-sufficiency—the very antithesis of the beggarliness of spirit commended in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3). The church had not always been in this state, but had become wealthy, and now the insidious, corrupting influence of mammon had caused a loss of zeal for the things of God. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency They carried their wealth over into their spiritual life; they confused prosperity and material blessings with spirituality and spiritual blessings. They were able to have a full staff of ministers and to have all the ministries. They were able to launch any program, to promote any activity, and to do anything the minister or church felt should be done. ⇒ They focused upon their capability instead of Christ. ⇒ They depended upon their ability instead of Christ. ⇒ They relied upon their resources instead of Christ. Therefore, the members operated and carried on the activities of the church, but it was all done in the energy of the flesh and of self. It was not done in the power of God's Spirit. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency In striking contrast to the church at Smyrna, which Jesus called “rich,” though in a state of poverty (2:9), the Laodicean church, though materially affluent, was in God’s sight wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (v. 17). Each descriptive word was ironic, in view of the local medical school, the banks, the eye salve, and textile industry for which the city was famed.
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
The church was spiritually "wretched" (ho talaipōros ). The word actually says the wretched one in the Greek. The church had its full staff and all the programs—so much so that it felt it needed nothing. But the church was really the wretched one. The word means to be afflicted spiritually; to be spiritually contemptible; to be spiritually inferior. In God's eyes they were spiritually lacking, very much so—so much so that they were afflicted, contemptible, and inferior. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The church was spiritually "miserable" (eleeinos). The word means pitied, despicable. The believers felt self-sufficient and were carrying on all the works of the church, but they were doing it in their own strength. They were missing out on the greatest thing in all the world: the presence of Christ and the power of Christ. They were missing out on experiencing the power of Christ working in their lives and in the church. They were to be pitied. In God's eyes they were despicable, for they were ignoring and neglecting His Son. The church was spiritually "poor" (ptōchos). They felt rich and in need of nothing, but in truth they were as spiritually poor as a church and person can be. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The church was spiritually "blind" (tuphlos ). They could see only what was in the world: money and human ability and effort. They did not look beyond to the spiritual need of the human soul nor to the possibility of spiritual and supernatural power working within the church and the lives of people. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The church was spiritually "naked" (gumnos). They failed to see their need for the righteousness of Jesus Christ, for the clothing of Christ's righteousness. They believed they could be good enough and do enough good to become acceptable to God on their own. They felt their religious works and gifts to the church would secure God's approval. They did little thinking about their need for the righteousness of Christ and about the death of Jesus Christ for their sins. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, 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. As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent. 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.” (Revelation 3:18–20, HCSB)
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency
Christ advised the Laodiceans to buy from Him three things, all of which symbolize true redemption. First, they needed to purchase gold refined by fire so that they might become rich. They needed gold that was free of impurities, representing the priceless riches of true salvation. Peter wrote of a "faith... more precious than gold" (1 Pet. 1:7), while Paul defined saving faith as "rich in good works," having the "treasure of a good foundation for the future" (1 Tim. 6:18-19). Christ offered the Laodiceans a pure, true salvation that would bring them into a real relationship with Him. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency Second, Christ advised them to buy white garments so that they might clothe themselves, and that the shame of their nakedness would not be revealed. Laodicea's famed black wool symbolized the filthy, sinful garments with which the unregenerate are clothed (Isa. 64:6; Zech. 3:3-4). In contrast, God clothes the redeemed with white garments (3:4-5; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 13-14; cf. Isa. 61:10), symbolizing the righteous deeds that always accompany genuine saving faith (19:8). Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency Finally, Christ offered them eye salve to anoint their eyes so that they might see. Though they prided themselves on their allegedly superior spiritual knowledge, the Laodiceans were in fact spiritually stone blind. Blindness represents lack of understanding and knowledge of spiritual truth (cf. Matt. 15:14; 23:16-17, 19, 24, 26; Luke 6:39; John 9:40-41; 12:40; Rom. 2:19; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 2:11). Like all unregenerate people, the Laodiceans desperately needed Christ to "open their eyes so that they [might] turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in [Him]" (Acts 26:18; cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The Lord, of course, did not teach that salvation may be earned by good works; lost sinners have nothing with which to buy salvation (Isa. 64:5-6). The buying here is the same as that of the invitation to salvation in Isaiah 55:1: "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost." All sinners have to offer is their wretched, lost condition. In exchange for that, Christ offers His righteousness to those who truly repent. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency Christ counsels them to be zealous and to repent. Note what Christ says: He loves them. They are lukewarm and indifferent to Him, only half-committed to Him, but He still loves them. The word used for love (philō ) means a dear love, a tender, fatherly love. This is the reason He rebukes and chastens the lukewarm and half-committed person. It is not out of anger that Christ tells people they are doing wrong, sinning, coming short, and are doomed. He tells them out of love. They must know they are doing wrong in order to correct their behavior. They must know that judgment lies ahead so that they will do whatever is needed to save themselves. The Lord's rebuke and chastening hand is for one purpose only: Christ loves them and wants them to see their wrong, correct their behavior, and change their lives. He wants people to possess the fullness of life and the hope of eternal life. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The matter is so critical that Christ exhorts them to be zealous in repenting. The word zealous means to boil and burn with zeal, sincerity, and earnestness in repenting. It means to burn a path to repent; to get to the matter of repenting immediately. Being lukewarm and half-committed to Christ is so serious a matter that a person must repent immediately. A person cannot afford one minute more before repenting. He is bordering on being spued out of the mouth of Christ (Rev. 3:16). Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The Lord Jesus Christ followed the call to repentance in verse 19 with a tender, gracious invitation in verse 20. The apostate Laodicean church could only have expected Christ to come in judgment. But the startling reality, introduced by the arresting word behold, was that Christ stood at the door of the Laodicean church and knocked; if anyone in the church would hear His voice and open the door, He would come in to him and dine with him, and he with Christ. Though this verse has been used in countless tracts and evangelistic messages to depict Christ's knocking on the door of the sinner's heart, it is broader than that. The door on which Christ is knocking is not the door to a single human heart, but to the Laodicean church. Christ was outside this apostate church and wanted to come in—something that could only happen if the people repented. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The invitation is, first of all, a personal one, since salvation is individual. But He is knocking on the door of the church, calling the many to saving faith, so that He may enter the church. If one person (anyone) opened the door by repentance and faith, Christ would enter that church through that individual. The picture of Christ outside the Laodicean church seeking entrance strongly implies that, unlike Sardis, there were no believers there at all. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency Christ's offer to dine with the repentant church speaks of fellowship, communion, and intimacy. Sharing a meal in ancient times symbolized the union of people in loving fellowship. Believers will dine with Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb (19:9), and in the millennial kingdom (Luke 22:16, 29-30). Dine is from deipneō, which refers to the evening meal, the last meal of the day (cf. Luke 17:8; 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25, where the underlying Greek is rendered "sup," "supper," and "supped," respectively). The Lord Jesus Christ urged them to repent and have fellowship with Him before the night of judgment fell and it was too late forever. Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency “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. “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”” (Revelation 3:21–22, HCSB) Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The wonderful promise to he who overcomes (all believers; 2:7, 11, 26; 3:5, 12; 1 John 5:5) is that Christ will grant to him to sit down with Him on His throne, as He also overcame and sat down with the Father on His throne. To enjoy fellowship with Christ in the kingdom and throughout eternity is sufficient blessing beyond all comprehension. But Christ offers more, promising to seat believers on the throne He shares with the Father (cf. Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:29-30). That symbolizes the truth that we will reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10; 20:6; cf. 1 Cor. 6:3).
Message to Laodicea: Repent of Self-Sufficiency The overcomers will rule and reign with Christ in His coming kingdom. They will sit down with the Lord who is on His throne. As we look at Christ's message to the seven churches, we find His message for us even today. He reminds us to return to our first love, remain faithful to Him, repent of any sinful ways, to hold on to His truth, to wake up and obey what we have heard, to hold on to what we have, to be on fire for Him. Have you gotten the message or are you a half-hearted Christian?