What is the significance of the white garments in Revelation 3:18?

Rev. 3:18. — “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest; and eye salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.” The three main characteristic features of Laodicea were their poverty, their nakedness, and their blindness; and these are what the Lord, ever gracious, here offers to meet. He might have commanded, but no, He counsels, “buy of Me gold purified by fire.” “Buy” need present no difficulty. Christ has the treasures of grace, the wealth of Heaven at His disposal. He fixes the terms on which He sells: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price” (Isa. 55:1). Your title to come, to buy, is your need and poverty. “Gold” purified or refined by fire points to divine righteousness, tested and tried; without it, oh, how poor! with it, how rich! “White garments” are declared to be the righteousness of saints, i.e., their righteous deeds (Rev. 19:8), which would cover their moral nakedness and the shame of it as well. “Eye salve” is for spiritual discernment.

Since they consider themselves rich, the Lord counsels them (verse 18) to buy of Him gold tried in the fire. Gold speaks of the glory and righteousness of God, and tried in the fire indicates its being purged from men's efforts to contaminate it, such as the pollution of Laodicea mentioned above. Of course, this great blessing from God is bought “without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1); yet Laodicea must realize it to be at the expense of her own pride. White clothing speaks of Christ as the true robe of righteousness who alone can cover man's nakedness. Finally the eye-salve speaks of the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit to open blind eyes. These three things are therefore, respectively, the genuine work of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Lord exhorts such to turn to Himself to obtain the "gold tried in the fire," that they may be rich. The gold tried in the fire speaks of the righteousness of God available for every sinner through the death of Christ, whereby the sinner that believes in Christ is set before God a justified man as clear from sins and judgment as Christ risen.

Moreover the Lord's counsel shows the need of the white raiment that we may be clothed. If the gold speaks of the righteous condition in which the believer appears before God, the white raiment speaks of the practical righteousness in the life of the believer before men (Rev. 19:8). Clothed in white raiment implies that before men we put on the beautiful character of Christ, and thus exhibit something of His lowliness and meekness, His grace and gentleness, His patience and forbearance, His holiness and sanctification.

Further, with all the boasted scholarship and intellectual attainments, the great mass of the Christian profession wholly lack the spiritual discernment that belongs to the simplest believer in Christ through the Spirit. The Apostle John can say to the babes in Christ, "The anointing which ye have received... teaches you of all things (1 John 2:27). Thus the Lord counsels these lifeless professors to turn to Himself for the “eye salve”. Paul, when converted was "filled with the Holy Spirit... And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales". He saw all things clearly.

First, there is the Lord's counsel to the church through the angel. There was still available for them "gold tried in the fire," "white raiment" and "eye-salve." They had been boasting in their riches, of which gold is the symbol, but their fancied wealth had not yet faced the fire. When their "goods" went up in smoke, their pretensions would peraish. But fire only refines true gold, while it consumes all the gaudy human things that glitter. They needed a righteousness which was divine in its origin, when the vain things of their own imaginings would be seen by them in their worthlessness.

Nothing could show out more fully the Lord's tender grace and long-suffering than the counsel He gives to Laodicea under these circumstances. She has turned wholly away from Christ, except in profession; and yet He would fain draw her attention to Himself as her only source of recovery. Let us then look at what He so graciously proffers. There are three things — "Gold tried in the fire'! — a well-known symbol of divine righteousness, which in Christ, as has been remarked by another, is never separated from life; "white raiment," which, as may be seen from Revelation 19, sets forth the righteousnesses of saints, the fruit of the power of the Spirit following upon the possession of, and upon the becoming, God's righteousness in Christ; and the "eye-salve," or unction of the Holy One (1 John 2:20), which is the only source of spiritual perception and intelligence. The exhortation "to buy" these things of Christ will be readily understood in the light of other scriptures. (See Isaiah 55:1; Matthew 25:9-10.) It is simply a figure of grace, buying without money and without price."

"I counsel thee," says the Lord, "to buy of Me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be manifested; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see." The gold is that which seems everywhere to speak of divine glory. In the ark it covered the shittim wood, the symbol of the Lord's humanity; and the golden cherubim are spoken of by the apostle as "the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat." Divine glory is the display of what God is in nature, and for us it is in the face of Him now revealed to us as the true image of God. It is in Him indeed that we find all riches for the Christian; for it is as we behold thus "the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory." The whole power of sanctification lies in this, and the white garments of which He goes on to speak here are evidently in close connection with this. They typify, as always in Revelation, the practical righteousness which we see in the nineteenth chapter, as that with which it is given the bride to be arrayed. But note, these white garments have to be washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14). The eye-salve is, of course, that which the Spirit furnishes, and the eyes thus anointed have one object alone, from which they would never be diverted, the light of a glory by which alone all other things are rightly seen. The Lord counsels these Laodiceans to buy these things. They are too rich and well-to-do to be asked to receive them freely. Nevertheless, the only purchase here is "without money and without price;" for if in fact to gain these things may cost us much, it is only the sacrifice of the rags of paper money, which was never of any real value, and which, when we see with the apostle, we count it loss, and therefore gain to lose.

It is counselled, therefore, to turn to Christ Himself, and to buy of Him "gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich." Gold is the figure of God's righteousness, and the term "tried in the fire" refers to its perfect purity, rather than to any judgment by which it is refined, as the Psalmist says of the Lord's words, that they are "as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." (Ps. 12:6.) White raiment is the clothing in which the believer is fitted to stand before God, instead of appearing in the filthy rags of his own righteousness. Man wishes to clothe himself in robes suitable to God's presence. Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together that the shame of their nakedness might not appear; and yet how useless they found them when called to stand before God. He gave them a garment by which their nakedness was really covered. So this church at Laodicea was clothing itself with works, and boasting of its success, while the Lord sees it to be naked, and endeavours to rouse its conscience to the fact, so that it might receive from Him the garments it really required. But its eyes were blinded with self-conceit, and it could not discern its need of such clothing. He therefore adds, "Anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." These self-satisfied professors lacked the very germs of spiritual life. Their eyes had never been opened to see their true condition as lost sinners. Consequently they did not know that they needed to be justified according to God's righteousness, and to stand before Him in the only clothing suited to His presence — "in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." (1 Cor. 1:30.)

Nothing could show out more fully the Lord's tender grace and long-suffering than the counsel He gives to Laodicea under these circumstances. She has turned wholly away from Christ, except in profession; and yet He would fain draw her attention to Himself as her only source of recovery. Let us then look at what He so graciously proffers. There are three things — "Gold tried in the fire'! — a well-known symbol of divine righteousness, which in Christ, as has been remarked by another, is never separated from life; "white raiment," which, as may be seen from Revelation 19, sets forth the righteousnesses of saints, the fruit of the power of the Spirit following upon the possession of, and upon the becoming, God's righteousness in Christ; and the "eye-salve," or unction of the Holy One (1 John 2:20), which is the only source of spiritual perception and intelligence. The exhortation "to buy" these things of Christ will be readily understood in the light of other scriptures. (See Isaiah 55:1; Matthew 25:9-10.) It is simply a figure of grace, buying without money and without price."

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" (Rev.3:18). Though the state of Laodicea was so repulsive and grievous to the Lord that He was about to spue her out of His mouth, in tender grace and long-suffering mercy He offers divine counsel to this self-sufficient, lukewarm Assembly and would draw her attention to Himself as the only source of recovery and true riches. He does not as yet give them up, but graciously offers that which would fully meet their need.

In the counsel of the Lord to Laodicea we observe three main needs of this Assembly, (1) their poverty, (2) their nakedness, (3) their blindness. These He tenderly offers to supply - "I counsel thee to buy of me." "Gold tried in the fire" is a symbol of divine righteousness. Isaiah truly declared, "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isa.64:6). For the believer in Christ the word is, "of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor.1:30). So the apostle Paul desired to "be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil.3:9). All who have this imputed righteousness of Christ are indeed rich and all who are without it and trust in their own righteousness are wretched, miserable, poor and naked as the Lord told Laodicea . How many in the professing Church of our day of the Laodicean period are without this gold of divine righteousness and thus so very poor and naked before God! Should any such read these lines, we would urge you to heed the Lord's counsel and obtain of Him by faith this divine righteousness - "gold tried in the fire."

Though Laodicea thought itself rich and in need of nothing, they did not have this white raiment which alone could cover the shame of their nakedness. They were clothing themselves with works, seeking like Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness with fig leave aprons of their own making. But the Lord saw them naked and seeks to arouse their conscience as to this that they might receive from Him the white raiment they needed. What a word for Christendom today so busy with a social gospel of works for the betterment and improvement of man in the flesh, and rejecting the Gospel of salvation by the blood of Christ and regeneration by the Spirit of God! God sees all such in the shame of the nakedness of sinful man with no covering in His holy presence, just as it was with our first parents after the fall in Eden . But the eyes of the Church of Laodicea, and of religious man today, are blinded with self-conceit and cannot discern its nakedness and need of divine clothing. So the Lord speaks of the third need of having their eyes anointed with eye salve that they might see. This is the spiritual discernment which comes from the "unction from the Holy One," "the anointing which ye have received from him" (1 John 2:20,27). It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that alone can take away the blindness of nature and give one true, spiritual sight. The vision of the Spirit of God is needed, first of all, as to one's own natural condition, and then as to God and His truth. In this Laodicean period there is boasting in the abilities of the human mind and its competency to judge things, but the need of being born again by the Spirit of God and having spiritual vision by the Spirit is ignored, so there is the blindness of nature amidst all the religious pretensions. The Lord gives this anointing of the Spirit to those who come to Him in true faith as needy sinners, poor, naked and blind.