Only God Provides Stability
Revelation 3:14 NASB “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.”
When come to this last
church, called the lukewarm church, we have a number of fascinating things to
discuss as we go through this particular evaluation report. As we look at this
we will come to a greater appreciation of why we should take the spiritual life
seriously. There is a strong call in this report for us to look diligently at
our own spiritual life and not to become complacent believers.
There are two periods of
last day and people get confused about that. There are the last days of God’s
plan for Israel. Those last days relate primarily to what happens
during the period of the Tribulation. Then there is the period of the past days
of the church, and that is not a time period that refers to just those final
years or generations or decades of the church age but all the church age is
described at the latter days because the return of Jesus Christ is imminent. So
passages like 2 Timothy 3:1-7 are passages that describe trends that will take
place during the church age but are believed to increase by the end of the age.
There Paul writes, NSASB
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers,
disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious
gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such
men as these. For among them are those who enter into households
and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
We live in a world today
where people are more concerned about immediate gratification and emotional stimulation
rather than learning about God because that takes time and discipline. The conclusion
that Paul has is that they have a form of godliness—a form of spirituality that
has all the trappings and verbiage of biblical Christianity—but they deny its
power. It is a great summation of the culture in the church of Laodicea.
Laodicea is located about 40 miles to the south east of Philadelphia and approximately 100 miles to the east of Ephesus. Originally the site was occupied by an ancient town
known as Diospilus (which means the city of Zeus) and was also called Rhoas.
This town was destroyed by the Greek invasions at the time of Alexander the
Great in the 4th century BC. It was later rebuilt by Antiochus II. Its
geography is important for the interpretation of the passage. The city was
situated on a plateau about 100 feet above the Lycus River valley. It was located on a central east-west highway
that went from Ephesus in the west and then heads of through Phrygia and then on into the inland of what is now modern Turkey. From the north was another crossroad that came down
from Philadelphia, down to Colosse, and then on down through Pamphylia and on to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Laodicea was located in close proximity to two other cities
that have biblical significance, Hierapolis which was six miles to the north and Colosse which
was ten miles to the south. These are important because both become the source
for Laodicea’s water. As the city grew they didn’t have enough water,
so they had to pipe in hot and cold water from the neighbouring cities. The
population of Laodicea, because it was founded by the Syrians under
Antiochus and when the Romans conquered this area it was further colonized by
Roman citizens, had a mixed population of Romans, Phrygians, Syrians and Jews. In
terms of religion there is less evidence here of a strong religious operation.
It wasn’t as important to the culture, although there were some temples there. There
was a temple to an ancient Phrygian deity by the name of Men Karou, and this temple merged with the temple of the Greek
god of healing. There was a famous medical school in Laodicea at that time which developed a powder called the Phrygian
powder. They would mix this into a salve and it was used for healing problems with
the eyes and problems with the ears. This becomes significant because Jesus
says in His evaluation of this congregation, “and eye salve to anoint your eyes
so that you may see.” He is picking up these cultural overtones in order to
challenge them to spiritual commitment. The water problem is significant
because that forms the background for the Lord’s famous critique in vv. 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.” Laodicea was famous for this because they piped in the cold
water from Colosse and there were hot springs in Hierapolis from where they piped in the hot water, but by the
time it got to Laodicea it wasn’t hot and it wasn’t cold, it was lukewarm and
it made people bilious. So the Lord takes that cultural analogy and turns it
around and slams them with it.
Three other things we
should note that are characteristics that give insight into interpreting this
evaluation. The city was incredibly wealthy. Because it couldn’t align itself
with any of the political movements because without a water supply it couldn’t
stand a long term siege they had to be like the Swiss and be fairly neutral. Like
the Swiss they also developed a significant system of banking, and nearby there
were a number of gold deposits and so gold mining was prevalent in the area. So
a banking and financial center grew up in Laodicea that was central for the economy of the western part
of Asia Minor. It was a major mercantile and trade center. Unfortunately they had a problem as most of this
area in the ancient world had with fault lines and the city was almost
completely destroyed twice in the first century AD. In AD 17 and again
in 61 the city was almost wiped out because of major earthquakes. But unlike Hierapolis and Colosse and Philadelphia and these other cities that relied upon government
handouts from the Roman empire
they insisted on handling their own problems with their own financial resources.
This indicates that they had a tremendous civic pride and self-reliance which
is good in some cases but it can be bad when it indicates spiritual characteristics.
This is why the Lord said in verse 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.” It made them complacent
with regard to their dependence upon the Lord in terms of providing their
needs. The area was also noted for its wool production. They had a breed of
black sheep that produced a rich glossy wool that was
highly prized in the ancient world and very expensive. They produced from this black
wool very expensive cloth and carpets that were owned by only the most wealthy in the Roman empire. They were status symbols in the ancient world to
possess clothing that was manufactured from this black wool. This provides a
little understanding for the statement Jesus makes in verse 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.” The third thing we should note is
the production of this eye salve. The gospel probably came to Laodicea by Epaphrus, according to
Colossians 1:7. We don’t have aspecific statement there but Epaphrus
was sent by Paul to take the gospel into this area. Paul never went there to
our knowledge, but he did write an epistle to the church in Colosse and in
Colossians 4:16 it appears that he also wrote a letter to the Laodiceans but it wasn’t part of Scripture.
The outline: There is the
opening address or commission to the church at Laodicea in v. 14. Then there is a reference to the character
of the Lord Jesus Christ, referred to as “The Amen, the faithful and true
Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” These character attributes ascribed
to Christ as crucial to understanding what is in this evaluation and why it is
said the way it is. There is no commendation in this evaluation, no praise, no spiritual advance; rather there is a condemnation: they
are lukewarm, complacent. They have a form of spirituality, there is a lot of
action, a lot of involvement, they talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk.
There is no real enthusiasm for biblical doctrine and for spiritual
application. And there is a correction, they are challenged in verse 19: “Those
whom I love, I reprove and discipline.” That is a fascinating statement because
the word He uses there for “love” isn’t AGAPAO [a)gapaw], it is PHILEO [filew],
and God only has a PHILEO love, a more intimate attractive love, for believers.
So this tells us that this church, as messed up as it is, is a church of
believers. Then there is a call to listen and to apply, there is a promise to
the overcomers, and then a conclusion, “He who has an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit says to the churches.” So this is a crucial challenge to us because
we can take that slippery slope into lukewarmness any day. We have to be
diligent, focused and vigilant. Are we really positive, or are we just going
through the motions? Is it just habit, or do we really have a deep passion to
know the Word and to grow spiritually?