Laodicea:

The lukewarm church:

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:14-15, 17-21 NKJV

General interpretation: This is the message to the wealthy and prosperous through all generations. Jesus rebukes the Laodiceans for being lukewarm. The city’s lukewarm water was repulsive to its people. Their water supply traveled several miles through an underground aqueduct before reaching the city.  The water arrived in the city dirty and warm. It was neither hot and relaxing nor was it cold and refreshing. To Jesus, the faith of the Laodiceans was as repulsive as the lukewarm water they had to drink.

Hot people are passionate. Cold people have no pretence of interest in Christ, in His word it or His church. They are not like the Laodicean hypocrites, saying they trust God but all the while really trusting in their wealth.

lt is tempting for the prosperous to consider that Gods favour is on them. The roman emperors considered themselves to be gods. King James 1 considered himself as divinely appointed and presumed authority as speaking on Gods behalf. His son was executed for this presumption. On a personal level we can also be tempted to think that we are self-sufficient, when we are part of a prosperous society. However, we may become forgetful that circumstances can change quickly and the wealth acquired is easily eroded. Only the love of God endures, and trust in God provides peace and contentment, something no amount of gold can buy.

A further result of worldly wealth and comfort is that we may reduce our reliance on God, reduce our passion and become lukewarm Christians. Certainly God is passionate about us. He desires that we return that passion with a similar vigour. A half-hearted response is detestable to God. When we stand with one foot in the world, loving the beauty around us that wealth can buy, tempted by the ‘lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh’, we are in danger of losing our passion for God and his plans for us. The pride we take in our achievements or position does a similar thing, the ‘pride of life’ we selfishly ascribe to our efforts.

Hence the Laodiceans, this generation and myself, in our western affluence, need to abandon our interest in the maintenance of our prosperity and abandon ourselves in the Lord’s purpose for our lives. We know that doing this in our own strength doesn’t work. We can’t use our western performance mindset and now start ‘doing things for God’. Those who have tried this, myself included, will be humbled. We need to wait on God’s timing, which often has something to do with our hearts being ready to receive what he has for us. In the meantime, we need to wean ourselves off the things of this world. By replacing it with worship and passion for God we starve ourselves off the cares of this world and the tempting but unfulfilling delicacies of wealth.

End-time interpretation: This letter is similar to the letter to Ephesus, in that the Christians have lost their passion for Jesus. They are lukewarm. In preparation for the end-time persecution, to help us be overcomers, we will need to develop a deep passion for our Saviour. In this letter, the primary message is that our passion for Jesus is vital. Jesus encourages us to renew our love for Him to help us to remain standing during the coming end-time persecution. How do we do this? How do we revitalize our love? God will show you. To imbibe, devour, ‘eat’ the bible passages referring to the coming splendour.

 

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The question we face now is how these letters apply to us and how we should interpret them for our current situation. The internet has many suggestions. Some articles suggest that these letters represent the various forms the church would take through the ages. We can call this the historical interpretation. Ie Ephesus represents the initial church up to 100 AD. Smyrna, the persecuted church represents the time from 100 AD to 313AD, up to the point that the worst persecution stopped. Then the following churches represent the Catholic Church, the reformation, the renewal and the rise of materialism representing the lukewarm church. This interpretation sounds plausible, but is a very limiting interpretation. It also misses two important facts:

 

Firstly, churches at 100 AD already had all these elements of struggles already active at the same time. Their struggle was not just struggle no. 1: loveless Ephesus.

So too, after 100 AD till 313AD, even though the main struggle was persecution, heresies and false teaching and other struggles still abounded. So we may investigate history and will probably find that the same struggles re-occurred in various forms throughout the last 2000 years.

Secondly, there are hints and also a clear statement in these letters that they do not only apply to the churches of approximately 100AD, to whom they were initially written, but also to each generation since that time.

First we look at the outright statement showing that there is a wider application to these letters. Then we look at the hints.

Firstly, in rev 3: to the church of Philadelphia we find the following:

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

The hour of trial refers to a one-time event. This hour most likely represents the end time tribulation. It is probably speaking of the last months or last years of the end-time tribulation.

 

In Zachariah’s prophecy, and later on in Revelation there is a particular reference to those being ‘kept’ or protected in the last days. In Zachariah we will read of those who will be kept from the hour of trial. In particular, the following event is most likely being referred to…

 

“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You.”

Zechariah 14:4-5 NKJV , And

“She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Revelation 12:5-6 NKJV

Apron further study it becomes clear that the nation of Israel, after a gigantic revival where they accept Jesus as the Messiah, flees to Azal under supernatural protection. They flee the antichrist who at that stage has revealed his true nature after first seducing the Jews to his side, but then starts persecuting them.

 

These two prophesies are so specific that they must be interpreted as actual events. Even if Israel is metaphorically referred to as ‘the woman’ this does not mean the entire prophecy is metaphorical.

Neither have these events yet happened. Hence they are generally agreed on by evangelicals as belonging in the end-time scenario. This means that this event should have been described in the letter to Laodicea, if the historical interpretation is correct. But it is not.

 

Then there are hints that the letter applies to the later generations as well.

Rev 3:20: there is a timelessness in Jesus’ statement: “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” This is an invitation to all through the ages.

So too, do the other messages to the overcomers in each church have a similar timelessness about them.

End-time interpretation:

In preparation for the end-time persecution, to help us be overcomers, we need to cut away the rot. The two-edged sword of the word of God, referred to in the text, will accomplish this. The Holy Spirit will assist us in cutting away the fruitless habits and pointless attractions we have to this world.