Laodicea: Warning to Repent

The last city on the route was Laodicea, 45 miles southeast of Philadelphia. With three main roads crossing it, the city was one of the richest commercial centers in the world. The Laodiceans were famous for producing shiny, black wool clothing and boasted of an outstanding medical center that specialized in eye ointments. With its wealth amassed, it had also become the banking centre of the region. For all its wealth, the city of Laodicea had a water proble.


One nearby town had fabulous hot springs and another had cold, clear water. The water either came from the nearby hot springs and was cooled to lukewarm or came from a cooler source and warmed up in the aqueduct on the way. Laodicea, however, was stuck in-between lukewarm mineral-laden water that tested like sulphur. Not hot, not cold. Christ says to this church: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot” (verses 15-16).



Given these facts, the words of Jesus to the Laodicean brethren must have stung. Christ uses the Laodiceans’ lukewarm and distasteful water to point out that their poor spiritual state is equally offensive to Him. In addition, when He thought of them, He felt like vomiting –like the effect of their water. What was their problem? Was it the sin of indifference about good or evil; or whether or not to stick to their self-sufficiency and fleshly indulgence, that had satiated their desire for the gospel?


He warns them that, if they do not rapidly improve their spiritual condition, He will reject them. He detests the Laodicean attitude of compromising with God’s laws. By contrast, He later describes those who are faithful to Him as “those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).


Further, even if their clothing were world renowned, Christ tells them their “spiritual garments” were in pitiful condition. “…you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed… (Vs. 17-18)


He recommends that they focus on buying from Him the spiritual clothing of true righteousness that He later describes as “fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:8). Jesus next tells these brethren, who are blind to their true spiritual condition that, the “Phrygian powder” concocted in their medical centre as an eye ointment was useless.


Instead, He advised them to use His true spiritual eye salve so they can clearly see and repent of their compromising attitudes. Lastly, Christ warns them not to put their trust in their physical wealth but in Him, who can develop the true gold that comes from overcoming trials and building righteous spiritual character.


The Laodicean Church represents the final state of the church preceding the Great Tribulation. The mainstream churches of these days are slowly but steadily gliding into the Laodicean. However, in the time of the end, at the unvailing of the seven final seven seal, the people on earth would not heed to this advice to repent of their sins. The whole of humanity would be afraid of God because of His wraths that are being unleashed on the earth and its inhabitants; but they would also be afraid of the dragon who gave his power to the beast (Rev. 9: 20-21). They would be indifferent –lukewarm- about who to obey God or satan, being neither hot nor cold, and as such bring upon themselves great destruction.

 


 “But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hand, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality, or their thefts.” (Revelation 9: 20-21)



Therefore Christ wraps up the prophecy: “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (Revelation 22: 11-13)


I want to believe that your heart has been enlightened and loosened by the amazing and true words that you have read thus far. The purpose of being a Christian or being born again is to submit to the will of God and allow Christ to guide you in the path that leads to everlasting life. From Genesis to Revelations, the commandments of God are evident to all believers. A true servant of God will do everything within his/her power to obey the commandments of God to escape the wrath of God. “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building… Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Cor. 3:9; 16-17).