What was Jesus' message to the church in Laodicea in Revelation?

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, 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 eye-salve, that thou mayest see." (vv. 15-18.) Such was the sad state of the church of Laodicea, such the sad picture of the professing Church in one of its last phases. There is not the gross corruption of Thyatira, nor the hopeless deadness of Sardis, but what is even more offensive to Christ, whose name is turned into a means of self-exaltation, instead of being an object of love. There is activity in the name of Christ, abundant works, abundant self-complacency, but heartless indifference to his person.

This grieves Him more than anything else, and it is against this that His sternest denunciations are directed. Only here does He speak of casting the Church out as too nauseous to be endured: "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth." What solemn words! addressed not to a scandalously corrupt or languidly torpid church, but to a church where there was clearly much work done in Christ's name, together with large outward results. So satisfactory were these in its own estimation that it became blind to the truth, and was boasting of its wonderful success at the very moment when, in Christ's estimation, it lacked everything of real value.

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.)

In a day when faithful witnesses to God's truth are becoming fewer and fewer, the Lord addresses himself to the church as the Amen (that is, the establisher of all God's promises), the faithful and true Witness, who will maintain to the last what is of God, though the great majority of those who profess to follow Him be swept away by the apostasy. He reproves the church for its lukewarmness and indifference to Himself and the truth. He says, "because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spue thee out of my mouth." There is neither burning zeal for His word, nor yet absolute repudiation of Christ and the Bible. Instead there is a nauseating, lukewarm condition, that is abhorrent to the Spirit of God. Lukewarm water is, in itself, an emetic; and this is the figure the Lord here uses. He cannot tolerate such conditions much longer, but will spue out the whole disgusting mass in judgment.

To Laodicea, as to the rest, He says, "I know thy works." Here is the test, — the only true one. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth." This is the certain and near end of professing Christendom. Of course He will not spew His own beloved people out of His mouth. He must take these first of all to Himself before He can reject the whole mass as nauseous. And we have already seen, in the address to Philadelphia, that the Lord tells them He will keep them out of the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world: — not merely out of the temptation; He might hide them in the desert so, but out of the hour of it. For this, He must take them out of the world altogether. And that is what the "I come quickly" connected with this also intimates.

Laodicea follows. Lukewarmness characterises the last state of profession in the assembly. It is nauseous to Christ; He will spue it out of His mouth. It was not mere want of power, it was want of heart — the worst of all ills. This threat is peremptory, not conditional. It brought irremediable rejection. With this want of heart for Christ and His service, there was much pretension to the possession of resources and competency in themselves; "I am rich," whereas they had nothing of Christ. It is the professing assembly accounting itself rich without having Christ as the riches of the soul by faith. Therefore He counsels them to buy of Him true and approved righteousness, clothing for their moral nakedness, and what gave spiritual sight; for they were, as respects what Christ is and gives before God, poor, naked, and miserable, and specially so. This is Christ's judgment of their pretended acquisitions according to man. However, as long as the assembly subsists, Christ continues to deal in grace, stands at the door and knocks, presses reception of Himself in the closest way on the conscience. If any one, still in what He was going to spue out, heard His voice and opened, He would give him admission to be with Him, and a part in the kingdom.

Such was the condition of Laodicea as discerned, and infallibly discerned, by Christ; and it was nauseous to Him; He abhorred it, and therefore declares irrevocably that He will spue it out of His mouth. He does not say when He will do so; but the decree has gone forth from His lips, and will never be recalled. Its meaning is, that He will totally, and for ever, reject the assembly as His public witness, His responsible light-bearer in the world. This is its primary application; but surely every individual believer may learn, both for instruction and warning, that nothing, no state or condition, is so displeasing to Christ as lukewarmness or indifference.

The Lord, in the next place, exposes the cause of the condition He condemns, and, though He has pronounced judgment, He indicates the remedy: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 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 eye-salve,* that thou mayest see." (vv. 17, 18.) As may be gathered from Deut. 8, and other scriptures, the danger in the wilderness for God's people is that of murmuring and unbelief, the danger in the land, when surrounded with blessings, is that of self-sufficiency and self-exaltation. It is into this latter danger that Laodicea has fallen. Possessing all the light of the word of God and familiar with the spiritual blessings which are the church's acknowledged portion, she forgets the source of her wealth, and ascribes all to herself. It is she who is rich and increased with goods, and has need of nothing. In other words, she makes everything of man, and nothing of Christ — save to use His name for her own exaltation. "In Laodicea, all that they professed to have, all that man could estimate the value of, was false and human. I do not mean mere outward riches, but all that could give a larger pretension to wisdom and knowledge and learning, perhaps a pretended fuller view of Christianity itself."

*This should read rather, "And eye-salve to anoint thine eyes." The eye-salve must be "bought" of Christ, equally with the gold and the white raiment.

376 The church was not looking to the Lord for these, and, therefore, was wanting in every one of them. Gold is divine righteousness - the great contrast to human righteousness - and is that which characterises the standing and riches and foundation of the saints. "The white raiment" is the works of the saints, which are the fruits of believing in divine righteousness. They are consequent upon the possession of divine righteousness. Human righteousness is quite a distinct thing from the righteousness of saints; for the righteousness of saints flows from hearts set at liberty by divine righteousness If we look at the Fakir in India, or the Dervish in Turkey; we find plenty of works, but never anything that is founded on redemption. The works of the Spirit flow out from the Spirit which has been the seal of divine righteousness to the soul; these saintly works are the fruits of the Holy Ghost in us. Here, then, is the "white raiment," which those at Laodicea were lacking. Therefore, they had not got even the righteousness of saints, for, being without divine righteousness, they could have no practical spiritual righteousness, no saintly works; as it is said that the "fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." They were also wanting in "eye-salve"; for they were as blind as nature could be to the things of God, and without spiritual discernment in anything, and yet they were saying, "We see": therefore their sin remained. Thus, having neither divine righteousness nor the consequent fruits of the Spirit, and still remaining in the blindness of nature, Laodicea wanted everything. There was abundance of pretension, while all that was real before God was wanting, and all that was fictitious was there.

377 But the Lord does not yet give up all dealing with them; but here in Laodicea the Lord takes an outside character; for when the nominal church has got practically into a Jewish position, then the Lord takes His stand outside, and calls to individual souls that are within: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice." The Lord desires to gain attention; He wants to be admitted. He warns the church of what is coming upon it - of positive judgment; but until that judgment is executed, He goes on necessarily in the exercise of His own blessed grace. But its objects are individual, for the church is given up. "If any man will open the door, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me"; he will have his portion at my table. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne."

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.

“As many as I love I rebuke and chasten ” (Rev. 3:19). The Laodiceans appear to have felt themselves happily immune from either. But if we are insensible to the Lord's rebuke, we shall not really know His love. “Be zealous, therefore” – that to the Sadducee – “and repent” – that is more to the Pharisee, though in truth both enjoinders are addressed to both. Am I going to assume that neither is addressed to me? – that I have no need of the Lord's warning? If, however, we are humbled by His rebuke, we shall be even more so by His gracious appeal, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Cannot we all, if we are needy, begin there and become listeners to His voice, and let Him into our hearts and take Him into our company, that He may take us into His? There neither lukewarmness nor self-complacency can exist.

The door being opened ("if any man … open the door"), how rich the blessing realized. First, "I will come in to him" — not into Laodicea; its doom is sealed; but in to him, to him who, by grace, had opened the door. And coming in He will manifest all His grace. "I will sup with him"; that is, "I will come down to where he is, and have fellowship with him in his things." How wondrous His condescension! But if He first will sup with him who has opened the door, it is that He may lead him up into the higher blessedness of supping with Himself, of having fellowship with Him in His things, communion with Himself, the most exalted privilege, though intended for every saint, and the most blissful enjoyment, that any can possess whether in time or in eternity; for it is the realization of our perfect association with Christ.

The promise to the overcomer is of a very different character from that in Philadelphia. It is, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne." (v. 21.) Overcoming here would be hearing the voice of Christ, and opening the door to Him; for this involves a judgment of the Laodicean condition, and separation from it morally. Every one then, thus overcoming, should sit with Christ in His throne. He Himself had overcome (see John 12:31, John 16:33, though this he not all that He overcame), and was set down with His Father in His throne; and, in like manner, the overcomer in Laodicea should sit with Him in His throne. It is promised association with Himself in the public display of glory in the kingdom. Infinite grace surely, and yet a very different character of blessedness from the intimate and heavenly association with Himself promised to the Philadelphian overcomer. Both alike are the aifts of His grace, but the gifts are manifestly in relation to the path and testimony of each while upon the earth, in the scene of the Lord's rejection.

Hence the Lord introduces Himself to them as the Amen; all security lies in the Christ of God. He only is "the faithful and true witness." This is exactly what the church ought to have been but was not; and therefore He has to take that place Himself. It was so before when He was here below in grace; now He must resume it in judicial power and glory, than which one can hardly conceive a greater rebuke for the condition of those whose obligation was to be faithful and true witnesses. Besides He is "the beginning of the creation of God." This sets aside the first man altogether, and most justly, for Laodicea is the glorification of man and of his resources in the church. He begins that new work, which God delights in as according to His nature.

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would that thou wert cold or hot. Thus, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spue thee out of my mouth." Being neutral in principle and practice, they were half-hearted toward Christ. Nor is any place more likely to generate neutrality than an outwardly true position, if self-judgment be not maintained with godly sincerity. The more one stands in the forefront of the battle, with the responsible testimony of God, the more His grace and truth are in letter brought out before others, if there be not also walk according to the light, sooner or later comes a lapse back into neutrality, if not active enmity. For heart and conscience are not animated and governed by the power of God's Spirit through living faith in Christ. Indifference to all that is good must follow; and the only kind of zeal, if zeal can so exist, will be for what is of the first man, worldly, and bad.

This is Laodiceanism. So repulsive does the Master declare it to be, that one need not wonder that most are unwilling for it to be their lot, or that it can be, as it is, the last recorded phase before the church is traced no more on earth. People vainly dream of progress, and flatter themselves. "Thus because thou art neither cold nor hot, I am about to spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and am grown rich, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and the miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire." They wanted everything that was characteristic of Christianity: "gold" or divine righteousness in Christ, "that thou mayest be rich"; "and white garments," or the righteousnesses of saints, "that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be manifested; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see." They had lost the perception of what God values. All was dark as to truth, and uncertain as to moral judgment. Holy separateness and savour were gone. "As many as I dearly love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking: if any one hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." The Lord presents Himself even there in His pitiful way to meet their every want.