Revelation: Church of Laodicea (Rev.3:14-22), part 1/4

Lukewarm faith sounds harmless until you read Revelation 3 and realize Jesus treats it as a crisis. We open the letter to the church of Laodicea and sit with Christ’s blunt assessment: a church that feels rich, secure, and independent can still be spiritually poor, blind, and exposed. That tension is the heartbeat of our conversation and it forces an uncomfortable question: what if success is not a sign of health, but a test that reveals what we truly depend on?

To make the warning concrete, we zoom out and look at Laodicea itself: a wealthy city known for banking, luxury black wool garments, and a medical school famous for eye salve. Then we connect the dots to the text as Jesus counsels them to come to him for refined gold, white garments, and true sight. Along the way we talk through what “lukewarm” represents, why spiritual neutrality is not a safe middle ground, and how the farther we drift from the Source the more our faith loses its heat.

We also slow down on the titles Jesus uses for himself, including “the Amen” and “the faithful and true witness,” and we tackle the debated phrase “the beginning of the creation of God.” We work through why that language points to Christ as the agent and source of creation rather than a created being. If you want a Bible study on Revelation 3 that is both historically grounded and personally challenging, this is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review letting us know: where do you see lukewarmness tempting the church today?

Transcript

Reading The Laodicea Warning

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Revelation chapter 3 with Christ's response or his assessment of the church of Laodicea. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna read all the verses chapter from verse 14 of chapter 3 down to verse 22, just so we can have in our minds. But I'll read it. The Lord says, and unto 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 would rather that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth. Because you say I am rich and increase with goods, and have need of nothing. And do you not know that and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked? I counsel you to buy of me gold that is tried in fire, that you may be rich, and white raiment that you may be clothed, and that your shame and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear, and anoint your eyes with ISA, so that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will suck with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.

Laodicea Wealth And Local Pride

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Now I want to give you some background on some history a little bit briefly on Laodicea, so you get an understanding of how they came to be what we know them to be in these short series of verses. And so the church at Laodicea was on this river called River Lycas. And it was one of the, it's one, it's the one of these several churches that Christ is talking about. And I believe that this is also the worst one for a lot of reasons. And it was located in a very wealthy province located on what was called the Lycus River Valley in Asia Minor. And it was also near Colossae and also near Hieropolis. For those of you who are history buffs, I kind of am a little bit. But Laodicea was founded in the 3rd century BC by a man named Antiochus II Theos. And he had a wife named Laodice. So you can imagine where he got the name or where the city got its name. Laodicea was named after the wife of this man, Antiochus, who was one of the Seleucid emperors. So that's how it got the name. It was named after a wife, this man's wife, that was under Roman rule. And so, under Roman rule, Laodicea became one of the wealthiest commercial centers in all of Asia minor. And it was famous for three things. And you got to pay attention to these three three things. It was famous for its banking industry, it was famous for flourishing textile trade. And they were known for producing this material that was this glossy sort of this glossy black woolly type garment. And they were also known for having this medical school that was really well known for ISAV. For ISAV. And we're going to talk about that a little later. And this was, and this ISAV was exported throughout the entire Roman world. So it was an important product. It was a lot like something you would expect today with all these miracle treatments that people have and use. So the Christian church in Laodicea was likely established during the ministry of Paul, but there is no evidence to support that. So anybody that speaks emphatically about that could not really do so. There's no idea that that was actually a church he founded, but it is believed that he did, but there is no evidence of that. But most people believe that it would, that that church was planted by Epaphras, who evangelized in the Lycus Valley area or Laodicea. And if you go to Colossians, in the book of Colossians, Paul mentions the believers of the Laodicean church. And he instructs that this letter here be sent, or the Colossian letter be sent to the believers in Laodicea, so that they can read it there, excuse me. And so if you look at Colossians chapter 2, verse 1, and chapter 4, verse 13 through 16, you will see how Paul is requesting that his letter to the Colossians would also be sent to the church in Laodicea. And I think this is one of the reasons why many people think he planted this church because of his interest in communicating his epistles to them. And so this happened right around 60 to 62 A.D. when this church, Laodicea, was firmly established. Now, when you get to somewhere around 60 to 61 AD, Laodicea, the city itself, suffered a major, major earthquake. A major earthquake. And so they wanted to rebuild the city themselves, considering the fact that it had this immense wealth. And so Laodicea was a church that had a spirit of self-sufficiency. And this begins to form an important backdrop to Christ's message in this book of Revelation. And so, although they were materially prosperous, the church had become spiritually complacent. Their prosperity made them complacent. It made them lazy. And so Christ, in this chapter, Revelation 3, he rebukes Laodicea for their lukewarmness, because they were neither cold nor hot, and for imagining itself rich while they were spiritually weak and poor, while they were wretched, while they were miserable, while they were blind and naked. And so each rebuke that Christ made to the church of Laodicea, if you look at it, each rebuke, it deliberately echoes something for which the city was famous. The very things that made them famous were the very things that Christ condemned them for. The very things that brought that city accolades were the very things Christ condemned them for. Unbelievable wealth. Believing that it needs nothing. Believing that it is the one that supplies the world with what it needs and it drives and governs what others do. Laodicea was such a church. It was such a church. And so Christ, Christ, instead, he counsels them to seek true spiritual riches, white garments of righteousness, and spiritual sight from him. But despite the harsh rebuke of our Lord, Christ's words were not without hope. There was an expectation that he held out for them. There was an opportunity for them to get on the right track so that wealth and riches and the fame of glory and in wealth and power, all this stuff, he's telling them that there is an opportunity for you to repent from this. Repent from this. And so he calls them to repent and he assures them of his loving discipline. And he invites them into a renewed sense of fellowship with him. And we're going to see in verse 20 of this chapter, Romans of Revelation 3, that he's going to say, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And one of the things that I'm going to say now that I will repeat later when we get to that verse, is that this has always often been a verse that is spoken in the context of an evangelistic message to the lost sinner. But it is not. It is to the wayward Christian. When he says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, he's talking to professing believers. He's not talking about the unbelieving person that needs to be evangelized, although that is certainly a necessity. But he's telling them, his people, those who are claimed to be his people, you better act right. And the door is open, and I am here with open arms, ready to receive you. So when he says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, he's talking to professing believers, not the lost people of the world. And then he tells them that the promise to those who overcome was that they would share in his throne, emphasizing that restoration remained to them available despite their serious spiritual decline. And so in the centuries that followed, Laodicea continued as an important Christian center. And it became the seat of a bishop and it hosted what was called the Council of Laodicea. And that was held around 364-363 AD. And they issued nuts, they issued a number of canons concerning church order, worship, and the recognition of biblical books for public reading. And over time, however, the city continued to undergo and go through a number of earthquakes, which changed and had an effect on all of their trade routes. And later, invasions led the city's gradual decline. And so by the Middle Ages, it had been largely abandoned, leaving behind the impressive ruins, which they're still here today. And so it would be a good history trip to be able to go out there and see the ancient ruins of Laodicea. They are still there. And so the history of the church of Laodicea serves as a lasting warning that outward prosperity and religious activity cannot be a substitute for genuine spiritual life, genuine spiritual vitality. And sometimes religious activity and wealth has a way of deceiving people into believing that their standing is higher than what it is. And we often associate prosperity and wealth and spiritual activity or religious activity as being an indicator that God is working in us. But to the Laodicean church, they found out something quite quite different. Quite different. But here's what their biggest problem was. Their biggest problem can be summed up in these ways: self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency. They lacked what is most important for every Christian to understand that must be done. They need to have a dependence on the Lord. So they were a self-sufficient people in need of nothing, in their own estimation. They had a problem, as Christ put it, with lukewarmness. They were not hot or cold. They focused on being in the middle. They focus on being on having this neutral, this neutrality. You can't have it both ways, and there is no middle ground when it comes to service to him. And they also suffer from spiritual blindness. And it's because of this also that they receive Christ's warning. But not only did he get that warning, not only did Christ give them the warning, he coupled that warning with an invitation. With an invitation to be restored into fellowship with him as it should

Lukewarm Faith And Modern Compromise

SPEAKER_01 15:07

be. Lisa, you had a question.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

So, yes, thank you. So I saw another study on this, and the people mentioned that lukewarmness, that Laodicea, the lukewarmness was sort of that they did what was right in their own eyes. Um and I'm just I'm wondering if that would if you if you would agree as far as you know, they weren't, like you said, they weren't dependent on God. And so, you know, like we we see some of the churches today accepting same-sex marriage and different things like that. And they, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

They were they were they were a very compromised church and a very compromising church. And you know, people make, you know, like brother uh uh Joseph mentioned, hot springs and cold springs. Yeah, these things are are used as references to talk about what it means. But the issue is the real issue with them, and what we need to focus on is being what is what is the issue here is what those things represent. They they they were considered themselves to be unbiased, they consider themselves to be indifferent to issues, they were a neutral people. They wouldn't argue one way or the other. They're the kind of people that always agree to disagree, and everything is fine. They are what some people call an ecumenical church in a lot of ways, in terms of the attitude. And they're always trying to find middle ground, but but these they had another layer of it. It was their their wealth and their need of nothing. They had no need of nothing. So what they so they were thinking is they didn't need they didn't need God. And this is how Christ is telling them. They were saying that we don't need him, but it's good to have him. It's okay to be a believer, and it's okay to to act out your your faith in ways that don't necessarily need to be as vigorous and as fervent as some of these other people, like John and Paul and Peter and all these other kinds of guys. They were very neutral people, nothing moved them except wealth and worldly progress. That's what they were moved by, Meg.

SPEAKER_06 17:30

So when I was doing some research on Laodicea, the the springs were like six miles from the city. And so what they would say is that it what came in hot, once it traveled six miles, it became lukewarm. And the cold, once it traveled six miles, became warm. So during wartime, they didn't need anything from anybody. That's what you were talking about. But the interesting fact is that the further you are away from the source, which is the Lord, that's where you become lukewarm.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I had like a personal bet, a personal bet in my own heart. This is funny. And I was like, this is something that Meg is going to bring up tonight. I really did. I really did. And you're right, it's a good point. But and what and what that shows, what that does show is, yeah, there is an there isn't a spiritual, there's a spiritual analogy to that, to that there. But their issue, their overwhelming, overriding issue was that, like he said, they were not, they were not hot about anything, they were not cold. They didn't, they didn't show any eagerness in spiritual matters. And Christ is saying that because you have you have you show some semblance of spirituality, but that is not hot, he says, I would rather you be cold. See, Christ is what Christ is saying is this you need to be all in always. All in always. And he says that it is better for you not to be in at all than to be a fence straddler, than to be neutral, to be, to have the appearance of being unbiased and unmoved and having and and not having this, not not being able to stand on something. And this is what he's talking about, and he doesn't like it. And he and he is very adamant about this. And so we get into verse 14 and he begins to say, he begins to to address it. But before I go, does anybody else want to add anything to it?

SPEAKER_05 19:33

I just wanted to say that it's good to remember your need, how desperately we need him. And perhaps that was an issue for them.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Right. Well, listen, wealth can be very blinding. And this is what Christ is saying. Your wealth, your success, your inventions, your earthly progress, these things are all blinding you. It can be a test. It always is a test.

SPEAKER_05 20:03

It's a test, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

It's a definite test. It's definitely a test from the Lord. And he certainly puts them on the spot and gives an opportunity to get things uh sorted out. Anyone else want to add anything before I move on? All right.

The Amen And True Witness

SPEAKER_01 20:19

So verse 14. Christ tells John, unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write these things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. And so the Lord addresses Laodicea, he addresses himself to Laodicea as the Amen, the one in whom all divine truth is certain and final and unchangeable. He Christ Himself, he is the very seal of all of God's promises. He's the confirmation of God's covenant with his people. And he is the last word when it comes to when it comes to all false confidence in men. He is going to be the one to exploit your error and your inability to see what it is you need to see about your condition. Because men have a tendency to believe that if they're in a prosperous state, a prosperous state in their life, they have all that life can offer. They have ease, they have health, they have family, they have friends, they have money, they have the homes, they have the cars, they have, they have, you know, everything is going right for them. And Christ is pointing out this is leading you to a place where you believe that your self sufficiency means that you need you're in need of nothing. And Christ tells them, you're metric, you're you're wretched, miserable. Poor, blind, and naked. That's what he tells them. And so, to a church deceived by its own estimation, Christ presents himself as the true measure of reality. And he's pointing out to them, I'm going to make you really see what's really going on with you. I'm going to give you a very rude awakening about you. And this is what he's doing. This is what he's doing. He also calls himself the faithful and true witness. And Laodicea's primary disease was self-deception. They were deceived by what they could do with their wealth and all their, you know, their investments in their banking industry and the medicine industry. I mean, these were people that were making strides. And Christ is telling them you thought you were rich and prosperous and in need of nothing. And Christ assessed them as poor, blind, and naked. So he comes as the witness whose testimony doesn't come to flatter or to be wrong. He's giving them an honest dressing down of their situation. That's what he's doing. And what he says of a church is the truth. And so when we look at all seven of these churches, Christ is assessing them truthfully. And he's telling them that his word is based on what he has, what he sees, and he is the one, knowing all men, knows what drives them. And he would be the one that knows that there is a lack of dependence on him, because if you or I or them or anyone is not depending on him, he would certainly know that you haven't shown up to muster, so to speak. In verse 14, he also says that he is the beginning of the creation of God. He's the beginning of the creation of

Is Christ A Created Being

SPEAKER_01 24:39

God. Now, before I move on, I want to ask a few of you, for those who are willing to answer, what this means. Because if I were on the wrong side of the truth, I can make an argument here to all of you that Christ was a created being. If I take the bare word of scripture here, it would certainly lead person to believe that Christ is the beginning of the creation of God. So let me start with you, Mariah. What does this mean when it says that Christ is the beginning of the creation of God? Don't worry about right or wrong answers. I want to see how you guys are thinking. How would you answer this? How would you address somebody who says, This proves that Christ was created?

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Well, to me, it means that he is the source of creation. You know, there has to be a beginning in which creation came about, and he is he is that answer. That would be my okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Anyone else? So he's a source of creation. Anyone else? Wanna give it a stab at it?

SPEAKER_04 25:54

I was the word because the word was the creation.

unknown 25:59

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 25:59

That's how he created everything, was through the word. You know, and so that's how I look at it. You know, it's because he was the big that's how he started out showing us who he was was the word. Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

That's how if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but we we just we just we just talking. Anybody else want to add?

SPEAKER_05 26:20

The firstborn from the dead.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Well, this is talking about after his resurrection.

SPEAKER_05 26:25

Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

John 1 1.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

That's what Vanessa was. And the word was within. That's right. And the world was made by God.

SPEAKER_05 26:37

And without him, nothing was created that was created. Nothing was made that has been made.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Right.

unknown 26:43

All right.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Anybody else got something different they want to add?

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Okay, I I want to go back to Genesis. And the uh in the oh man, in the Garden of Eden. I want y'all to think about this. When Eve ate the fruit, gave it to her husband, he ate it. Okay, and remember, God said, they are now like us. So Jesus was there at the beginning. The Holy Spirit was there at the beginning. All three is all two of them, that's God. Okay, so what do you mean two of them is God? Well, the two of them is is it's the Trinity.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

The Son, God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Right. So when God said they are now like us, he was talking to the two, the other two. You know.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Okay, I see what you're saying. I see where you're going. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, so Jesus has always been there. Always.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Right.

Christ As The Agent Of Creation

SPEAKER_01 28:09

So I think I think that everyone here is in agreement. And and and the one word that was used was the source. When you go to Genesis 1, it says, in the beginning, God created heaven and earth. And it just talks about God, the divine Godhead, the essence. In other words, the triunal God. There was a there was a there was there was the involvement of the entire Godhead in the creation. And what is often lost in this passage is that the beginning, when it when it talks about in the beginning, God created, what you're really dealing with, which what we're really talking about, which which which Revelation deals with here, is that that the creation was made, and this, and so when you when you when you look at this that when you look this up in the original languages, and I won't go into all that, but what I'll say is this when it says in the beginning, some of the most earliest, some of the earlier translators interpret this as by the beginning, God, and that the son of God was that principal agent in the creation that we read about in John 1 and that we see here. So when it talks about, when it talks about here in John 14 that he also was the beginning of creation, he's saying that he was the principle. He was the beginning where whereby creation was made. In other words, creation was made you know by the principle. So in the beginning, God created the heaven and earth. And so the language here is perfect, it's right. And I wouldn't change that or can or try to confuse anybody, but it is expressive of the fact that Christ was the primary agent in creation. He it is his voice that spoke everything into existence. That's why he's referred to as the word. The word. When God speaks, we are hearing the voice of the word.