Revelation 3:14-22: Jesus' Letter of Rebuke to the Church at Laodicia

Laodicea was first settled in third century B.C. by Syrian ruler Antiochus II, who named the city after his wife, Laodice. It was located to the south of Philadelphia at the crossroads of two trading routes and was a leading commercial center in Asia Minor. The city boasted of a mint for producing its own coinage, the regional banking system, and a flourishing textile industry, which was famous for the silky black cloth manufactured from the glossy-black wool produced in the region. The Laodiceans wore their fine black garments with pride.

The ruins of Laodicea today.

The amphitheater at the site of Laodicea.

The city also was the site of a famous medical school known for its development of a salve to treat diseases of the ears and eyes, as well as a health resort at the hot springs near the city. The city’s water supply came from a five-mile aqueduct from those same hot springs. That water delivered by the aqueduct was lukewarm, tepid, loaded with minerals, and foul tasting.

Remains of part of the aqueduct that brought

tepid water to the city from the hot springs

 five miles away from the city.

Laodicea had suffered catastrophic damage from earthquakes in 60 B.C. and again in 17 A.D. After the latter disaster, the Roman government offered to pay to rebuild the city, but the Laodiceans refused and rebuilt it themselves. This self-sufficiency made the city famous and admired throughout the Roman empire. In the city were several large pagan temples and monuments, two large amphitheaters, and a huge 900-foot stadium, with a playing field 600 feet long.

Revelation 3:14-22:

“¹⁴ To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. ¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. ²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Jesus refers to Himself in this way: “These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation” (v. 14). “…Amen…” is a Hebrew word spoken by God or about God. The word means “it is and shall be so” and is variously translated “true,” “sure,” “perfect,” or “faithful.” Examples of the different uses of the word “...Amen…” in the Hebrew scriptures include:

Deuteronomy 7:9: “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

Psalm 19:7: “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.”

Hosea 5:9: “Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.”

So when Jesus says “These are the words of the Amen…” in v. 14 we can be sure He means business—He is the “…Amen, the faithful and true witness....” The word “…witness…” is the Greek word μάρτυς (martoos), from which we get the English word “martyr.” Μάρτυς originally meant any witness, but it came to mean “one who bears witness by his death” because of the Christians who would not recant their testimony when faced with the threat of death.

Paul wrote this about Jesus in Colossians 1:16-17: “¹⁶For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” So in Jesus’ introduction in the letter to Laodicea, we see Him as Creator, the True Witness, and the One Who Is and Shall Be.

Unlike His letters to the other churches in Revelation chapters two and three, Jesus’ letter to the Laodiceans presents a sorrowful, even depressing, message. There is no commendation, but only rebuke: “¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” The Laodiceans’ had a kind of so-so attitude toward the Christian faith “…lukewarm—neither hot nor cold…,” just as distasteful to Him as the tepid water from the aqueduct from the hot springs five miles away was to the Laodiceans.

In this letter, Jesus is using something familiar to the Laodiceans to make His point. The water flowing from the aqueduct from the hot springs was tepid and pretty useless by the time it had flowed into the city. It was too warm for drinking and too cool for bathing. In addition, the hot springs at its source contained calcium, sulfur, and other minerals. The minerals leached out in the aqueduct, and it required periodic scraping. When the mineral deposits built up in the aqueduct, the water in Laodicea was smelly and nauseating.

Notice the frustration on Jesus’ part. In Matthew 12:30, He says: “Whoever is not with me is against me…” Lukewarm faith is no faith, but just wishing, hoping to scrape by with a little bit of devotion or effort. In other words, lukewarmness is no genuine faith at all.

Lukewarmness damages the church more than even turning away from the church. Someone who professes to be Christian, yet fails to demonstrate it to others, brings reproach not only on himself or herself, but also on the church. If he or she had merely turned away from the church, there would be less damage to the cause of Christ.

The lukewarm follower’s religion is one hour a week, and he or she usually skips evening and midweek services. For such a person, there is little or no evidence of faith outside the Sunday morning service and no real devotion to the word. He or she tolerates and excuses personal sin, secretly harboring sinful attitudes and desires. Remember, he or she is a slave to sin, not a slave to righteousness.

Lukewarm faith is something Jesus especially hates. In v. 17, Jesus explains their problem: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” The problem was, they lived like everyone else: self-sufficiency, self-reliance, focused on wealth as what they thought was the true source of comfort, peace, and happiness.

If you had asked anyone in Laodicea what was different about the Christians, you probably would have gotten the response “not much, except they worship a different God” or something like that. They were proud of their personal wealth and the prosperity of their city, their reputation for medical treatment, fine black wool textiles, and their hot springs. They were so proud of who they were and what they were known for that they saw Jesus as a kind of social or religious affiliation perhaps, and not the One who died for their sins.

A Christian missionary to India once asked Mahatma Gandhi: “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower”? Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Do we see this attitude in the western church now? Jesus—the Amen, the faithful Witness, the One who created all— tells the lukewarm church their real spiritual condition in v. 17: “…wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” They had no richness in faith and dependence on God, but only in riches that are in reality temporal and in the long term worthless.

In vv. 18-19, Jesus gives them the solution: “¹⁸I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. ¹⁹Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”

Faithfulness can come only through acquiring true wealth—spiritual wealth: “…buy from Me gold refined in the fire…”; that is, choose to be 100 percent committed, conform to the truth and righteousness from Him, pursue holiness, rightness, truth, and Christlikeness, rather than bending biblical principles to conform to the lifestyle we prefer.

In other words, be like Him.

Jesus prayed for us in John 17:17 that we would be sanctified, a process of growing and maturing in the faith and becoming further and further separated from the evil one and from the values and attitudes of the world. That is the gold refined in fire He refers to. It is that process of refinement as we mature in Christ and put more and more distance between the world’s values and our values. Refining separates the impure from the pure.

“…buy from me…white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness…” White garments in the Bible signify purity, holiness, separation from sin. He is pleading with the Laodiceans to be faithful in all they are.

“…buy from me…salve to put on your eyes, so you can see…” This is a reference not only to recognizing the truth of their faith, but also to realizing how it must change their lives if it is real.

Notice that Jesus’ allusions in v. 18 illustrates their spiritual wealth with the city’s three major industries that had brought them so much worldly wealth: “…gold refined in the fire…” (banking), “…white clothes to wear…” (in contrast to the fine black wool textiles they were so proud of), and “…salve to put on your eyes, so you can see…” (the medical industry in Laodicea).

God still loved these wayward people—v. 19: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” Like any good parent, he rebukes and corrects His children. That comes from His love for us, wanting what is best for us, wanting us to recognize His standards for us.

Notice that He not only wants us to repent when we stray, but also He wants us to be zealous in our faith; our faith should permeate our entire being. V. 20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” This verse often quoted as an evangelistic invitation, but it is instead an invitation to Christians on their journey of faith.

In reading the history of Laodicea and Jesus’ letter to that church I am reminded of the truth of 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” The Laoticean Christians undoubtedly bought into the secular society’s pursuit of wealth and status.

No matter how much we struggle with the pressure to conform to our culture, the temptation of personal sin, wrong attitudes, anger, vengeful thoughts, and so forth, He is always standing at the door and inviting us to be restored to Him.