Laodicea – The Prodigal Church and the Way Back to Jesus
Toward the end of his life, exiled on the island of Patmos, the disciple John had a vision. In this vision John saw Jesus, who instructed John to write down all the words Jesus spoke to him. And thus was written the Book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible. Among the first words Jesus dictated to John were letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. The last letter was to the church in Laodicea.
As you will read, Jesus was not pleased with the Laodicean church. As I studied and wrote about this letter it occurred to me that this church abandoned and left Jesus in much the same way the younger brother left his father’s home, abandoned his family, and travelled to a ‘distant land’, recorded in Luke 15: 11 – 31, in the parable known as “The Prodigal Son” or “The Lost Son”. The parable of the Prodigal Son has been called “the Gospel within the Gospel”. I think the same can be claimed for Jesus’ letter to the Laodiceans.
Like the lost son, Jesus tells the Laodiceans that if they return, He will eat with them and they with Him. Jesus will throw a party. And like the lost son who returns to receive a ring, a robe, and sandals all signifying power, authority, and favor, Jesus tells the Laodiceans that if they return to Him and overcome, they will sit with Him on His throne. This is also a picture of power, authority, and favor.
It is easy to dismiss the letter to the Laodiceans as ancient history with no relevance to Christians today. That would be a huge mistake. In this letter Jesus maps out the road to restoration for those Christians (and churches) who desire a deeper relationship with Jesus or who, like the Prodigal Son, have travelled to a distant land and want to return to the Father, but don’t know the way.
The letter begins with Jesus telling the Laodicean church that they are spiritually lost and far from Him, even though they think they are doing well. They tell Jesus, “We are rich and wealthy. We do not need a thing.” Jesus is no longer the center of this church. But Jesus tells them that they are lost – they are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked”, referring, of course, to their spiritual condition.
But the rest of the letter is pure grace and the Father’s love poured out over this church. Jesus makes it clear – He loves the Laodicean church and His heart is for restoration. But they must receive His grace and love. Jesus is at the door calling and knocking. Here is part of the letter:
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 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 him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3: 19, 20 NIV).
It is up to them to open the door and let Jesus back into their hearts and so that they can enter back into His. Of course, this is the truth for many Christians today as well.
So what is the way home? That is a big part of what the remainder of this post addresses.
First, who are these Laodiceans and why are they so self-sufficient and self-confident?
Laodicea
Laodicea was a wealthy city in the Lycus valley in present-day Turkey. It was located at the intersection of two ancient imperial trade routes. Its sister cities were Hierapolis and Colossae, the church to whom Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians. Like the Colossae church, the church in Laodicea was planted by one of Paul’s followers, perhaps Epaphras. There is no indication that Paul ever visited the Laodicean church, although he wrote a letter to the church that, most scholars agree, has been lost. Laodicea is mentioned 4 times in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, including mention of the letter that Paul wrote to the Laodiceans, with instructions to the Colossians to exchange and share the two letters.
The wealth in Laodicea came from its location along the trade routes, as well as prosperous textile and banking industries, and a medical school, which specialized in the first-century version of ophthalmology.
Most of what we know about the church in Laodicea comes from the third chapter in the Book of Revelation. In chapters 2 and 3 of John’s Revelation, the disciple John, who is in the Spirit, is instructed by “a loud voice like a trumpet” to write on a scroll what he sees and send it to 7 churches, the last of which is the church in Laodicea (Rev 3:14 – 22). When John turned around to see who was speaking he saw, ”Someone like a son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet”. It was Jesus.
In the vision, 7 lampstands and 7 stars surrounded Jesus. Jesus tells John that the 7 stars are the angels of the 7 churches and the lampstands are the 7 churches. Apparently each church was assigned an angel, although some interpret the angel to be the pastor of the church. The letters are intended for the churches’ congregations. John is instructed to write what he has seen in his vision, which signifies what is happening “now and what will take place later”. These words for the churches are for them, and also for us living in the “what will take place later” time. Who is ‘us’? Well, I think ‘us’ can be an individual church, the Church universal, as well as individual Christians in these churches then and now. But Jesus is not speaking to unbelievers. He is writing to the members of the churches, assumed to be Christians. These letters therefore, are not (I think) addressing issues of salvation; they are addressing Kingdom life.
Jesus tells John that each church is a lampstand. Looking into the symbolism of the lampstand will help us understand more fully what Jesus is telling the Laodicean church and us in His letter to them.
The Lampstand
Each church is symbolized by a lampstand or menorah. The lampstand was one of three pieces of furniture Yahweh instructed Moses to put in the Holy place of the movable sanctuary (Tabernacle) and later in the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem. Moses was told by Yahweh to make the lampstand out of a single piece of hammered gold. It has a central shaft and 6 upward-curving branches – three on each side of the shaft, forming at total of 7 branches. Each branch is connected to the central shaft (the modern menorah used to celebrate Hanukkah has a central shaft and 8 curving branches). The shaft and each branch are capped with a cup containing oil and a wick forming a lamp that gives the light for the Priests to perform their duties. Without the lampstand the Holy Place would be completely dark. The priests were instructed to keep the lamps burning continuously!
Like all the objects in the Tabernacle, the lampstand foreshadows Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world – without Him the world would be completely dark. Jesus tells the Church and the Christians that make up each ecclesia or church that they are also called to be light in a dark world – a city on a hill. The central shaft of the lampstand represents Jesus. The branches are all attached to and supported by the central shaft. In this sense, the lampstand reminds us of Jesus’ words: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Here are two passages about light and lampstands directed at us:
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5: 14 – 15 NKJV).
“No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It’s put on a lampstand so those entering the room have light to see where they’re going. Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room” (Luke 11: 33 – 36 MSG).
The lampstand is a scale-invariant metaphor. At one scale, we are the lampstand. At a larger scale, an individual church, made up of a group of individuals or members, is a lampstand. And at the largest scale the Church, collectively made up of all the members and churches in the world, gathered into one interconnected body, is the lampstand. These various levels or scales of lampstands or lights receive their light from the One Source – Jesus – who is the light of the world. And their purpose, collectively and individually, is to light up the world for Jesus.
If we are the lampstand – our eye is the lamp. If our eye is the lamp, the Holy Spirit in us is the oil that, when lit with passion for Jesus (fire!) burns and creates the light shining in and from our eyes. If Christians (or churches) become consumed with the things of the world, forgetting Jesus and His commands, the oil of the Holy Spirit in us is used up and not refreshed. Or, if our spiritual and emotional lives become overwhelmed with anger, fear, unforgiveness, offense, and other negative emotions we shut off the flow of the Holy Spirit into our hearts. When either of these happen – we become like the world or our hearts become hardened – the light shining through our eyes dims and we become spiritually lukewarm, like the Laodiceans in John’s vision.
The Letter
In these two short sentences, “I am standing at the door. If anyone hears me and opens the door I will come in”, Jesus opens a door that leads straight into the Father’s heart. These are words of love, forgiveness, mercy, and especially grace. In a sense, these two verses capture the essential message of the New Testament. Why do I say this? To find out, lets place these verses within the context of the whole letter. Here is the first part of the letter:
“I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit (in some translations “vomit”) you out of my mouth. 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’ (Revelation 3: 15 – 17 NIV).
The first part of John’s letter to the church at Laodicea is blunt and honest – “you think you are doing well? You are not!” Jesus starts out by telling them that they are “neither hot nor cold”. They are lukewarm and Jesus is about to spit them out of His mouth – literally Jesus is about to vomit. What does Jesus mean about not being hot or cold?
The current thinking (at least by some) is that Jesus is talking about hot and cold water. In the New Testament, we are washed clean by the blood and the water of Jesus. Blood washes away sin. Water washes away defilement. Laodicea was noted for its near-by medicinal hot baths and refreshing springs of cold water. Jesus is telling them that they have become defiled by their idolatry. That they are neither hot nor cold refers to the spiritual condition of the Laodicean church. When the letter was written, the church was no longer supplying healing for the spiritually sick (hot water) nor refreshment for the spiritually weary (cold water). They had become disconnected from the Holy Spirit, and were or were becoming spiritually dead.
The church was rich in material things – in today’s terms probably a large building, well-funded programs, and a large and growing congregation. Jesus accuses them of saying, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” The Message translates the verse this way, “You brag. ‘I’m rich. I’ve got it made. I need nothing from anyone.”
“They don’t need a thing” sounds like, “We don’t need Jesus. We are doing very well on our own.” These are the words of a smug, self-satisfied people. These are words of pride and self-sufficiency. These are the words you expect to hear from an unbeliever or a successful secular organization, not (hopefully) from a church or member of a church. These are the words of a people whose hearts are far from God!
Jesus tells us the Laodicean church claims to be wealthy. They are comfortable, and probably powerful and influential. Years of this life of sufficiency produced a people who began to think that they had accomplished these things on their own. They have become “squinty-eyed in greed and distrust . . . their body like a dank cellar”. Jesus is no longer the center of the spiritual life of the church. The Laodicean church is like the younger son who grew up in his Father’s house (Luke 15 – the parable of the Lost Son), but then believing he no longer needed the Father, left the Father’s house and traveled to a ‘distant land’. His heart was far from the Father!
As the Laodiceans sought their ultimate value in riches and wealth, their ‘supply’ of the Holy Spirit began to dry up, and the power of the Holy Spirit – the light – was no longer being felt or seen in that part of Asia Minor. The city on a hill had grown dim and cold; their spiritual life and faith lukewarm.
“Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble” (Proverbs 28: 14 NIV). They were in trouble, but didn’t know it!
However they got there, there was very little difference between them and the pagans surrounding them. Their condition is like many of the Christian churches in the West today, where the light of Jesus and the Holy Spirit have dimmed, replaced by church programs, Bible studies, outreach, committee work, and budgets and administration needed to keep the church building functioning – all operating in the power of ‘man’; or churches who have made love their god. It is certainly true that Jesus is love; but love is not Jesus. Love (man’s love and man’s acceptance) can become an idol.
Humans have an amazing capacity for self-deception. The church at Laodicea thinks it is doing very well – materially and spiritually. Jesus says “no!” – “You are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”
In his commentary on this chapter in Revelation Eugene Peterson writes about the types of churches today that Jesus is describing in His letter to the church in Laodicea:
“The church attracts to itself persons who like to live in the atmosphere of the holy but have little interest in being holy themselves. They find delight in working on committees and find security in ordering their lives within the reassuring traditions of the fathers. They are faithful in showing up in church on Sundays and are fortified by listening to the moral instruction of their leaders. But they have no appetite for holiness, or joy, or love. They are wholly conventional and entirely dull” (Peterson, Reversed Thunder, pgs. 51, 52).
As the believers moved away from dependency upon and obedience to the Holy Spirit, their light began to dim and probably in some parts of the church, die out completely. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the son has left the Father, but as the parable unfolds it is clear that the Father never abandoned the son. In this letter, the Laodicean church is the Prodigal Church. The lampstand no longer has a function – although as you will see, Jesus has plans for it to be revived. They might have left Jesus, but Jesus has not left them.
Jesus is hard on the Laodiceans in this part of the letter. Why? As you will read, He hopes that they will return to their first love (as He wrote to the church in Ephesus). To return means to repent. Jesus confronts the Laodiceans to make them sorrowful (have they become too prideful for His rebuke to cause them sorrow?). He knows that, “Godly sorrow leads to repentance” (2 Corinthians 7: 10 NIV).
So Jesus has a plan. What does Jesus do? Does He remove their lampstand? Does He allow the church to die from its own near-apostasy? No! In the second part of the letter Jesus makes three offers. If received and accepted they will result in complete restoration of Kingdom life, power, and fellowship culminating with the right to sit with Jesus on His throne!
These offers are total grace – one of the greatest examples of God’s grace in the New Testament. This message is for today – including many individual churches, Christians in those churches, and collectively the Church in the West. These words are addressed to the many who believe themselves Christians, but in Jesus’ eyes are far from Him – not to unbelievers who have always been outside of the church. One thing is for sure – whoever Jesus intended the recipients to be, He loves them!
There is another aspect of Jesus’ offer that rings true to me: Jesus is defining the tension between God’s grace and our responsibility to receive, accept, and act on that grace represented by these offers or gifts.
The First Offer
“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” (Revelation 3: 18 NIV).
Jesus ‘counsels’ them – He is saying, “If it were me, I would . . .” or, “I advise you to . . .”. He does not command or demand, which are much harsher. Although Jesus knows what they need, He leaves the decision up to them. It is their responsibility to decide. Also, Jesus tells them, “These gifts are only available from me, you cannot find them anywhere else. Do not look to the kingdom of the world, you will only find these gifts in the Kingdom of God.”
He counsels them ‘to buy’. He just told them they are poor. How can they buy anything from Jesus? The Greek word for ‘buy’ is agorazo, which means “to buy, purchase, or redeem”. In English, redeem means to “to buy back”, “to free from captivity or ransom” (which is generally how Christians understand the word ‘redeem’), or “to exchange one thing for something better”. It is this last sense that seems to me to best fit best this passage.
The Laodiceans are counseled by Jesus to exchange something of lesser value for something of much great value. What do they have “of lesser value” that they can give to Jesus in return for gold, clothing, and salve? They have their pride, Sin, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and self-righteousness; they can trade their ‘right to themselves’ for what Jesus is offering. Jesus is calling them to trade those worthless self-things, as He sees them, to acquire that which is of infinite worth – the nature and character of Jesus.
But, there might be a problem. In one way the Laodiceans are no different from us. Culture changes, but human nature remains the same. I am sure that some of them did not see their self-sufficiency and self-confidence as weaknesses; they saw them as strengths. I imagine some of them saw trading their self-lives for Jesus’ life – a life of humility, a servant and slave to all (Mark 10: 43, 44), and submission to the Father – as a bad exchange. It is still that way today. Many people, even Christians, do not want to receive or accept what Jesus is offering, preferring the comfort of their own ‘personal prisons’. Their choice!
Gold is probably the metaphor for true, living faith; other spiritual gifts, and even power. With these gifts, refined in the fire of persecution and adversity, they can be ‘rich’. White clothes probably represent holiness, which grows out of faith and life in Christ. The eye salve allows them to see clearly spiritually into the unseen realm, and understand the riches of their glorious inheritance and the power He has given them. This reminds me of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
“I pray also that they eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints and His incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1: 18, 19 NIV).
That is the first gracious offer. But they must acknowledge their need, they must seek Jesus for these gifts, and they must desire them to the point that they are willing to deny themselves and pick up their crosses. The Laodiceans are, for the most part, lukewarm Christians, but still believers. After all, Jesus is writing to a church! In their comfort and affluence they have drifted away from Jesus or attracted members in later years who are like the ‘Christians’ Peterson described above – “wholly conventional and entirely dull”, with no zeal or passion for Jesus and His gospel. But with this letter, perhaps Jesus’ warning and honest assessment will ‘wake’ them up! If so, their sorrow can lead them to repentance.
Jesus is calling them to a life surrendered and submitted to Him, a life of faith, power, and holiness. Jesus is calling many lukewarm Christians today to the same life.
The Second Offer
Assuming they accept Jesus’ first offer, and through a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit receive a rejuvenated saving faith, renewed desire for holiness, and ‘eyes’ that see – Jesus makes them the second offer:
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 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 him, and he with me” (Revelation 3: 19, 20 NIV).
Jesus begins this second offer with warm words of affirmation and encouragement, “I know this is difficult, but I am speaking these words to you because I love you!”
The Greek word for love in this passage is not agape; it is phileo – which means, “to cherish” – a very intimate and warm love. In the second offer Jesus shows us the gracious, beautiful, compassionate, faithful, and unrelenting heart of God. Jesus is pouring His grace over the church, which if accepted and received, will produce a mini-revival sweeping up all (most, many?) of the members in its passion and power.
Jesus calls the Laodiceans to be earnest, enthusiastic, passionate, and filled with zeal for Jesus and His life in them. We do not become Christians because of our zeal and passion. Christ in us, the hope of glory, is the source of our zeal and passion. Is Jesus calling them to manufacture passion for Him in their own power? No! Trading in their self-lives for His life of faith, power, holiness, and eyes that can see spiritual realities has opened the doors of their hearts to the Holy Spirit – to love and follow Jesus with enthusiasm and passion. If they accepted His first offer, their faith in Jesus and the faith of Jesus in them, will be revived.
Then Jesus calls them to repentance. Redeeming or trading their self-sins for the life of Jesus in them goes hand-in-hand with repentance. Repentance is turning away, not just from what we have done, but also from who we are. In this case, the Laodiceans must repent of their near-apostasy – of turning from Jesus to finding their value in their wealth and things of the world, which is a self-centered life. Jesus is calling them to recommit their lives to Him.
The consequence of repentance is also to clear out all the ‘junk’ in their spiritual lives that has prevented the Holy Spirit from flowing into their hearts, filling their ‘lamps’. I think of a pipe that has been clogged with years of mineral deposits accreted onto its walls. A plumber passes a tool through the pipe grinding away all the accretions so water can flow freely through the pipe. With the accretions of unforgiveness, offense, bitterness, resentment, even hatred ‘ground away’ through healing, the Holy Spirit can ‘flow’, and they can be filled daily with the ‘oil’ of the Holy Spirit. The result will be lives of passion, enthusiasm, and zeal for Jesus and His Kingdom. The light will be rekindled and they will begin to burn brightly again.
Repentance is a gift. But we must desire repentance. We choose to surrender our self-lives to Jesus. The work of repentance is His – He is both the ‘plumber’ and the ‘grinding tool’, but He will not spiritually transform us until we desire the change and give Him permission.
If they repent, then they are ready to hear and receive the really good news – He is not far away! In spite of them turning from Him, He has not turned away from them. In fact, He is just on the other side of the door, standing, calling, and knocking – waiting! For me, this is a beautiful picture of the relentless heart of Jesus – a combination of Jesus persistently looking for the one lost sheep plus the Father’s patiently waiting for the lost son He hoped would return from the ‘distant land’. Jesus standing at the door and knocking is a symbol of His passionate heart for the lost, the one who turned away, or the one who spurned Him. It is a picture of the relentless grace, relentless love, and relentless faithfulness of Jesus.
I can hear Jesus calling from the other side of the door, although I may not understand His words – there is a door between us! It is good to hear Jesus’ voice, even if it is muffled. But I want more! Jesus is just on the other side of the door! When I open the door (the door to my heart), there is Jesus! Standing right in front of me. Me, face-to-face with Jesus! Before He was just a distant voice. Now I can look into His eyes; see His beauty, his radiance, His light. Now His words are clearer, His expressions are powerful. He invites me, if I accept His invitation, to enter into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him than words can express. It is one thing indistinctly to hear His voice. It is something else to get all of Jesus, not just His voice. Grace, rooted in love.
I assume the ‘door’ is the door into the heart of the church or the individual whom Jesus is addressing. The ‘door’ might be the barrier that the Laodiceans created between themselves and Jesus when they began to deny and leave Him. Perhaps the ‘door’ is the way into the stronghold or ‘fortified city’ they allowed to form in their hearts as they turned more toward the world and its wealth. He is knocking and calling, but they (collectively or individually) must hear His voice, and then open the door. It is their choice and responsibility.
Jesus knocks and calls. How do we hear His voice? We can’t hear unless we are listening. How does the Christian listen to and hear Jesus? In prayer! It is our responsibility to order our lives in such a way that we can spend time in the secret place speaking and listening to Jesus. It is through prayer that we stay connected to Jesus. And ‘prayer’ is not just something we do during a specific, set-aside time. We can pray continuously as we go about our day. How do we avoid becoming a “Laodicea’? Stay connected! Prayer is the primary way that we speak to and hear Jesus. Jesus is calling and knocking. But, it is up to them (and us) to hear and open the door.
This is an important point. Jesus does not go where He is not wanted. He is a gentleman. “It has never been the practice of God to storm the ramparts of the human heart” (Mounce, The Book of Revelation, NICNT, pg 114). He could force the door open. He could eliminate the door altogether. But there is a door, and He waits patiently for us to open it allowing Him to enter into our hearts or the heart of our church. Jesus waits patiently! In this sense, Jesus is like the Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Father stands at the edge of the village and waits, hoping for the return of His son. The Father did not go after the boy. He waited for the boy’s return, and when he does return, the Father, overjoyed, organizes a meal and invites the village to celebrate with Him. His son who was lost is found! Again, that is the tension between grace and our responsibility. It is total grace that Jesus is knocking at the door! It was total grace that the Father, who was spurned by the son, was waiting to receive the boy home, with honor. But we, like the Prodigal son, must receive His grace and the gifts that He gives us. How do we receive grace? We choose Jesus and open the door, and then ‘let the party begin’.
We open the door when we truly repent, deny the right to ourselves, and cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, come back into my heart and be my Lord.” In the letter Jesus tells us that when we open the door, something amazing happens. Jesus comes into our hearts and He eats with us and we with Him – a picture of family, comfort, acceptance, friendship, and restoration. It is a party! Eating with Jesus is a picture of our relationship with Jesus being restored; it also symbolizes a restoration of Kingdom life and Kingdom power and authority. It symbolizes our intimacy with Him and His intimacy with us. When I share a meal with Jesus, I share in and partake of His life, including His complete victory over all evil and darkness.
And what about this? There is no sense of punishment or admonishment. Jesus does not say, “Why did you leave me? What were you thinking? How could you do that?” Eating with Jesus is a celebration. As I wrote above, it is a picture of the return of the prodigal or lost son. When he returned, the father threw a lavish party in his honor! No questions asked.
The Laodiceans denied Jesus as completely as Peter denied Him on the night He was arrested. This picture of the Laodiceans sharing fellowship and friendship with Jesus, healed and made whole, reminds me of Jesus meeting Peter along the shore of the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection. Jesus asked “Peter do you love Me?” three times. Those questions contained forgiveness and offers to love and follow Jesus. Peter said, “Yes, Lord you know I love you”. Peter was completely forgiven and his relationship with Jesus fully restored. But, it was Peter’s choice. He received Jesus love and forgiveness and accepted the call to follow Him.
Jesus takes the initiative with the Laodiceans and through the first 2 offers restores the relationship – if they are willing. That relationship is life with Jesus in the Kingdom of God, now.
Two final thoughts about the door. First, wherever the King is, His Kingdom is there also. If He is on one side of the door, then the side I am on is in the kingdom of the world. That there is separation is entirely my fault (or the fault of the Laodiceans). Jesus desires to be united with me. He is doing everything He can to remove the separation – but I must do my part. I must open the door. But if I choose to leave the door closed – and that is also my choice – I have cut myself off from a life of power and beauty with Jesus. I don’t know if this means I lose my salvation, but it certainly means that my life with Jesus will be a shadow life, without passion, fire, and substance – a life devoid of real enduring hope, peace, and joy – and powerless. Which is, in my opinion, a tragedy and a great loss.
Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he wrote about the man who built on the foundation, which is Jesus, with straw. His work will be tested with fire. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. “He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 1: 15 NIV).
Second, I have the power to open the door and let Jesus into my heart. But there are other doors that I must not open or if I have opened them in the past, I must shut today. If extreme fears, hatred and unforgiveness, occultic activity, and persistent sin have not been rebuked and repented of, they are all open doors that let the demonic into our hearts. We need spiritual and emotional healing in the power of he Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus to close those doors and to keep them closed.
The Third Offer
The first offer is the gift of renewed faith, spiritual life, and power when we surrender and submit to Jesus, trading the self-life for a life in which Jesus rules and reigns in our hearts. The second offer is the gift of a restored Kingdom life – an intimate, joyous relationship with Jesus now, Christ ruling and reigning in our hearts, when we repent and open the door. The Third offer is the gift of Kingdom life and Kingdom power, authority, and favor for eternity. It is an offer of hope. In the third offer, once again connected to Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, we can overcome the attacks of satan. This is the overcomer who will sit with Jesus on His throne, now and in the future. Overcoming is the final step in a three-step process. But, Jesus makes it clear that, like the other two steps, we have a role in overcoming.
“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcome and sat down with my Father on His throne”.
But, this third offer is also contingent: it is made to him who overcomes just as Jesus overcame. Overcoming is important to Jesus – each letter to the 7 churches closes with this phrase: “To him who overcomes” (or “he who overcomes”). We do not receive the gift of the third offer in our own power, strength, or work. It is the Christian – the Kingdom man or woman – who overcomes; not the overcomer who becomes a Christian. And Jesus is writing to a church, which for all its failures, is still made up of Christians.
What does it mean to be an overcomer? An overcomer is a Christian who successfully resists the temptations that satan uses to seduce the Christian into finding their value in the power and things of the world. The overcomer is not without sin, but depends upon Jesus for their life. An overcomer does not deny or turn away from Jesus either when life gets hard or when life is really good (like the Laodiceans). In his first letter John writes:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God . . . for everyone born of God overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5: 1, 4, 5 NIV)
The Greek word for overcomer is nikao. It means to conquer, vanquish, to subdue, prevail, and get the victory. It also means to endure, resist, be resolute, be steadfast, and stand. It evokes warfare and victory in battle – to subdue or vanquish an enemy. But our overcoming is based on His victory. In John 16: 33 Jesus tells us, “But take heart! I have overcome the world”. This is the offensive victory won by Jesus on the cross and through His resurrection. When we overcome, we enforce and maintain His victory. We claim and occupy the territory Jesus takes back. But still, there is an enemy. Who is the enemy of God? Satan, of course.
“God has an archenemy and under his power are countless demons and fallen angels seeking to overrun the world and exclude God from His own Kingdom” (Watchman Nee, ‘Sit, Walk, Stand’, pgs. 52, 53).
To get to God, Satan attacks Christians. His attacks are designed to draw us away from worshiping Jesus. If he can get us to find or begin to find our value in the things of the world (temptations) instead of Jesus or get us to doubt Jesus – His power, goodness, and faithfulness – then our faith in Jesus can be weakened, we might begin to waver in our commitment to Him. In these and other ways, satan tries to turn us away from worship of and obedience to Jesus and His Kingdom and toward worship of self and life in the kingdom of the world, where we are no longer a threat to him. This is what happened to the church in Laodicea.
Scripture warns us about this:
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (1 Peter 8, 9 NIV).
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come hear to you” (James 4: 7 NIV).
“If we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we disown Him, He will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful” (2 Timothy 2: 12, 13 NIV).
Be self-controlled, alert, resist satan, stand firm, submit to God, come near to God (which sounds like “open the door”), endure – these are all instructions to us, all actions that we must take, actions for which we are responsible. We must choose to endure, to persist, to stand, and to resist. These attitudes and actions take energy.
It is often easy to give in to temptations, to go places and to do things we know, in our hearts, are not Jesus’ will for our lives. It is easy to take small steps of disobedience that individually seem insignificant, but over time can produce a heart hardened toward Jesus. It is in our human nature to become, over time, unrepentant. As I wrote above, we are good at self-deception.
It is easy to let offense or unforgiveness grow in our hearts, especially if we were clearly wronged. But the offended heart or a heart filled with unforgiveness is a heart cut off from the Holy Spirit. It is a heart that is in danger of being hardened.
It is easy to say, “I’ll pray tomorrow” or “I am too busy to pray or read my Bible today”. It is even easier to delay going deeper into God’s word through study or contemplation. Over time, these seemingly benign omissions can grow into a well-defined pattern of neglect.
It is very easy to become overwhelmed with the demands on our time made by the world. How often do we over commit ourselves, leaving no room for God in our days?
And how often are we tempted to miss worship or worship half-heartedly?
All these and more open a door for satan to steal our allegiance to Jesus. Do we want to be overcomers? Stay connected to Him. Seek Him in everything and continually. And endure, persist, resist, be resolute, disciplined, and stand. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” Isaiah 7: 9.
Of course, overcoming is easier said than done. But we do not overcome in our own power! This is the tension between God’s grace and our responsibility. We make decisions every day that affect our ability to overcome. But we can overcome only because Jesus has already won the victory.
Watchman Nee describes one of the deep truths in our walk with Jesus in his excellent book, “Sit, Walk, Stand” — his commentary on Ephesians:
“The word ‘stand’ implies that the ground disputed by the enemy is really God’s, and therefore ours. We need not struggle to gain a foothold on it . . . Today we war against satan only to maintain and consolidate the victory which Christ has already gained . . . thus today we do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. We do not fight in order to win but because in Christ we have already won. Overcomers are those who rest in the victory already given to them by their God” (Watchman Nee, ‘Sit, Walk, Stand’. pgs 54, 55).
“We must not ask the Lord to enable us to overcome the enemy, nor even look to Him to overcome, but praise Him because He has already done so; He is victor! It is all a matter of faith in Him. If we believe the Lord, we shall not pray so much but rather we shall praise Him more . . . the difficulties around you may not alter; the lion may roar as loudly as ever; but you need no longer hope to overcome. In Christ Jesus you are victor in the field” (Watchman Nee, ‘Sit, Walk, Stand, pg 57).
I believe this is what Paul means in his letter to the Corinthian church:
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1: 20 – 22 NIV).
One of the great passages addressing overcoming, although it never uses that word, is Paul’s exhortation to ‘stand’ in Ephesians 6. “Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6: 13 NIV).
God has given us armor so that we can be overcomers. We do not overcome alone, and we overcome when we are ‘in Christ’, so that His victory over sin, death, darkness, and evil is the ground on which we stand, endure, and prevail! But – we must put on the armor. God will not do it for us. His armor is given to us by His grace. How do we receive grace? How do we put on the armor? Through surrender to Jesus, through prayer and praise, through the reading of and studying of God’s word, through obedience, through worship, and in the many other ways we daily seek God. Jesus is standing at the door knocking and calling us by name. But we must open the door, even daily. We must receive and accept His grace, faith, and love. No one will do it for us.
Charles Price, in his book ‘The Real Faith’, writes this about our responsibility to receive:
“God is the source, the unfailing source, of the supply that is more than sufficient for all our need; of grace to cover all our sins; love that pardons all our iniquity; stripes that are sufficient for all our healing; strength for all our weaknesses. We believe that; but herein we have failed. We believe that God gives it, but we have not learned how to receive it. The infusion of divine strength and nature is dependent upon two things: your knowledge that God is willing to give, and your learning how to receive . . . God is always ready to meet your every need, if only you are ready to receive” (Price, ‘The Real Faith’, pg. 44).
To “If only you are ready to receive”, I would add, “If only you are capable of receiving.” The church in Laodicea was not capable of receiving. They told Jesus – “We do not need a thing.”
We are overcomers when we understand our responsibility and know, by faith, the victory that Jesus has already won. We overcome when we walk with Him – in Christ – in that victory. When we walk in the tension of these two truths we are invincible. John Stott writes about this tension in his commentary on Ephesians:
“Some Christians are so self-confident that they think they can manage by themselves without the Lord’s strength and armour. Others are so self-distrustful that they imagine they have nothing to contribute to their victory in spiritual warfare. Both are mistaken. Paul expresses the proper combination of divine ennabling and human co-operation. The power is indeed the Lord’s, and without the strength of His might we shall falter and fall, but still we need to be strong in Him . . . which could also be rendered ‘Strengthen yourselves in the Lord’ . . . The armour is God’s, and without it we shall be fatally unprotected and exposed, but still we need to take it up and put it on” (Stott, Ephesians, pgs. 266, 267).
God, through out Scripture, is telling Christians: “I will do it for you, but you must do it with Me”.
Overcomers are those who are in Christ, living within the sphere of His activity and power. Overcomers are Kingdom men and women, daily receiving and accepting the gifts that God has prepared for them, and daily choosing His way. And as Jesus told the Laodiceans, overcomers are those who have been given the right to sit on the throne with Jesus – both now and for eternity. That is a very big deal! It is good to be an overcomer!
Conclusion
Jesus’ letter to the Laodiceans is also a letter to us. His instructions are for all Christians, across the ages. We are ‘counseled’ to take them personally. In this letter are Divine ‘how-to’ directions to grow in His grace, faith, and power. This letter shows the way back into the Father’s heart for those who have denied Him, left Him to travel to the distant land, far from home; or just want to go deeper into that Place of grace, peace, and love. And what Christian does not want that?
Jesus’ letter to the church in Laodicea begins with strong condemnation. He tells them, “You are proud and arrogant. You think that you have it all together. You see yourselves as strong, successful, and spiritually mature. But you are none of these things – you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. You say you do not need a thing. You have turned your back on Me, My grace and faithfulness, My Kingdom, and My power. You are lost!”
Can you imagine the pastor of a church standing up in front of his congregation with a letter in his hand saying, “I just got this letter from Jesus? Let me read it to you”. Or, can you imagine getting this letter in the mail, reading it, and at the end of the letter realizing it is a letter to you from Jesus?
Jesus is writing to the a Laodicean church; a half-hearted, lukewarm, even cold church or Christian. What is a lukewarm church? One in which Jesus and His word are not central and the power of the Holy Spirit is absent. It is a church that has turned inward, where all the energy in the congregation is focused on meeting the insular needs of that group of people. It is a church in which the power and presence of God is not routinely seen, preached, and practiced — dull and lifeless. It is a church in which repentance is not demanded. It is a church that worships love as their god, at the expense of Jesus and His Gospel. It is a church in many ways indistinguishable from the unbelieving world around it. It is a church more focused on programs than on the spiritual life of the people within its sphere of influence.
Jesus is not pleased with the Laodicean church and churches like it in the world today. But, and this is the message of the New Testament, Jesus loves these churches and everyone in these congregations! He pours grace over all of them! Incredible, powerful, profound grace! His heart is for restoration – to restore these churches and the people in them back to a deep, intimate relationship with Him – to bring them back into the Kingdom of God. If they are willing!
He makes the church in Laodicea and us three offers: 1. Trade in your self-confident, self-sufficient life of pride for My life of freedom and power. 2. Repent and open the door so that I may come in and eat with you and you with me, restoring intimacy. 3. Become overcomers who can stand against the demonic attacks against you and the church, gaining victory for yourselves and my Kingdom.
In these few verses (Revelation 3: 14 – 21) Jesus displays the full heart of God: the wrath of God, but also grace, love – even costly love in the face of rejection – redemption and restoration, power, and faithfulness. In a sense, all of the teachings of Jesus are wrapped up in this letter, which even contains the cross. Like the parable of the Prodigal Son, which is similar in many ways to the letter to the Laodiceans, Jesus is showing us the heart of the Father – a heart of grace, of love, and mercy. The Father’s heart longs for redemption and restoration. He longs for relationship. Jesus will even humble himself, waiting at the door potentially to be ignored once again, to welcome us home. If the parable of the Prodigal Son is the Gospel within the Gospel, then so is this letter to the Laodiceans.
God offers us incredible gifts, but we must receive them. It is heresy to believe that we can earn God’s favor and entrance into His Kingdom through our own works. But I think it is equally wrong to believe that God will do it all for us. Jesus’ letter to the church in Laodicea and to us today makes this tension clear. Paul writes:
“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Philippians 2: 12, 13 NIV).
We have work to do. This work may not look easy. It requires discipline, humility, commitment, sacrifice, and maybe even pain. But in a strange way, when we are in Christ, our work feels more like worship than labor. It really is true that His yoke is easy and His burden light.
God tells His people, “I will do it for you, but you must do it with me.”
We are not alone. When we are ‘in Christ’, the Creator of the universe is standing with us, walking by our side, and living in our hearts. But we must receive Him and welcome Him in.
What a God! What a miracle! Hallelujah!!
May God richly bless you today!
John