| Chapter 3: 14-22 Laodicea 'Righteous People'
There were several other cities called 'Laodicea':
this one was 'Laodicea in Phrygia' or 'Laodicea on the Lycus'. The other
six churches had either a warning or a promise that Jesus would soon come
to them. Laodicea was different. Jesus had already come to them, but the
church had not noticed. He stood outside! (verse 20).
The Greek kings of Syria built the city of Laodicea
about 253 BC, although there may have been an older city there before
that. It stood on a low hill, which was a kilometre square, and to the
south of the river Lycus.
There were several other cities in the valley of
the river Lycus. Colosse was about 16km away, (see Colossians 1:2) but
the earthquake in 60 AD had badly damaged it. Philemon seems to have lived
near there; you will find a letter that Paul sent to him in the New Testament.
Hierapolis (Colossians 4:13) was another city only about 9km from Laodicea.
It stood on the north side of the river Lycus; the springs of hot water
at Hierapolis contain 'alum', which forms shining white cliffs where the
water falls down to the Lycus. These white cliffs can be seen from about
25 Km away. Alum is still of value today. People wash their eyes in water
that has alum in it and this helps to cure some eye troubles.
One reason why Laodicea became so rich and strong
was that six roads met there. An important road to the south went through
a gap in the hills just south of Laodicea, and there were also roads to
Ephesus, to the east and to Pergamum.
In the Lycus valley there was plenty of water,
which was good enough for farming, but most of it came from hot springs
and it was not pure or cold enough to be good to drink. The sheep around
Laodicea were famous for their beautiful soft black wool. We know that
cloth and perhaps carpets were made from this, and also several kinds
of clothes. These sold at good prices, and people in many parts of the
Roman Empire liked them.
Laodicea was also a centre for 'banking'; it was
a money market. Although the Roman Empire had one ruler, Caesar, the different
parts of it had different money systems. Travellers had to change their
money in cities like Laodicea. Then the city was a centre for healing.
So was Pergamum. But at Pergamum healing was to do with a heathen 'god'.
At Laodicea, the doctors used more science. Religion does not seem to
have been important in this city. This was true of Jewish religion; it
seems to have been true of the worship of the old heathen 'gods' and also
of the worship of the Empire and of Caesar. [3.7]
We do know that there were large numbers of Jews
in Laodicea and all round the city. Nearly 300 years before John wrote
Revelation, 2000 Jewish families came to live in the area. About 150 years
after that, there were about 7,500 Jewish men in and around Laodicea;
some think it was as many as 11,000. At Apamea, another city not far away,
some of the coins had the word 'Noah' and a picture of the ark on them.
But although there were so may Jews, they had probably given up their
Jewish way of life.
The city of Laodicea was very rich. In AD 60 the
great earthquake wrecked a number of cities. The other cities asked for
help from the Roman Empire. Caesar gave large amounts of money so that
they could be built again. Laodicea was too proud and too rich to even
ask for help. One man, Nicostratus, built a great 'arena' or 'stadium'
for games. This was about 300 metres long with seats all round and was
finished in AD.79. This was not all that he gave to the city with his
own money.
About AD90, a great new Syrian or east gate of
the city was finished. It had three great arches. This too was given by
someone in the city. Some of the family of Zeno and his son Polemo were
so rich that the Romans made them 'kings' in Pontus, Armenia and Thrace.
Some of the family still lived in Laodicea but they were all very rich.
Acts 2 v 10 tells us that there were Jews from
Phrygia in Jerusalem when the Christian church began. A church met in
the city when Paul wrote to the Colossians: that was about AD. 62. Perhaps
they did not like the letter which Paul sent to them (Colossians 4:16).
We can only guess that the church was mostly made up of rich Jews, who
paid up the Jewish tax and so had no trouble with the Romans.
In 21:13, John talks about the gates of the New
Jerusalem. They sound rather like the great gate of Laodicea, which had
just been finished. If you can find a picture of a Roman gateway, you
will see the arches and the words that were written above them. Some people
think that Archippus was the leader of the church at Laodicea. (See Colossians
4:17.) We do not know.
There was a church at Laodicea for hundreds of
years, but no one at all has lived there now for about 800 years.
The Message to Laodicea
a) What Jesus says about Himself (verse
14)
Jesus says three things here: -
1. He calls Himself the 'Amen'. (See 1:7.)
'Amen' is the last word. At the end of all things it is Jesus who
will speak, and what He says will be true.
2. But then what He says to us now is true,
too. What He said to His followers was true, and that has been written
in the four Gospels. So Jesus is also 'the faithful and true witness'.
3. But then Jesus was already there, right
at the start when God began to make heaven and earth. (See John 1:3,10;
and Colossians 1:15-18.) He is more than 'the ruler'; He is 'the beginning
of God's creation'.
So these are the words of Jesus, who began God's
work of creation, and who at last will speak and bring it all to its
end. But He speaks now to us.
b) The good things that Jesus sees in the
church
Jesus can find nothing good in this church. It
is the only one of the seven churches where He does not find something
good. We would have seen people with money. There were people who gave
a lot. We would have seen people who were important in the life of the
city. But Jesus sees nothing good. We are often wrong when we judge
these things.
c) Jesus tells them what is wrong in the church
(verses 15 and 16)
These Christians were neither hot nor cold. The
local water was like that. I think that when John walked into Laodicea,
he would be hot and thirsty. He would have liked to drink cold, pure
water. But the water mostly came through pipes from hot springs about
8km. away. It was warm, and it was not pure. When you drank it, you
felt you wanted to be sick, or to spit the water out. There was hot
water at Hierapolis. There was cold, pure water at Colosse but not at
Laodicea. So that is how Jesus feels about the Christians at Laodicea.
They make Him feel sick. He wanted to spit them out of His mouth.
Of course, if they had once been cold, and if
now they were going to be hot, that would be good. The trouble was that
once they had been hot; now they were on the way to become cold. When
Christian people are neither hot nor cold, it is almost always because
they were once hot, but will soon be cold.
So what Jesus says is that He is about to spit
them out, or He is likely to do it. For these Laodicean Christians there
is still a little time to change their ways.
d) Jesus tells them what to do (verses
17-20)
We have seen that Laodicea was proud and rich.
Verse 17 tells us that the Christians in the city were like that too.
But Jesus does not think of them like that. To Him they are like people
who sit by the road and beg. They are blind and naked before Him. (Think
of Adam and Eve in the Garden in Genesis 3:7.) But they can hear. Jesus
does not say that they are deaf. And He speaks to them.
So in verse 18 Jesus comes to them to trade with
them. He has good things from heaven to sell them. His advice is: 'Buy
from me'. What we have from Jesus will really be ours, as though we
had paid for it. Yet we know that we cannot pay money for what Jesus
gives to us. (See Isaiah 55: 1,2.) We must buy from him but we can pay
nothing to him!
1. First, we are to buy gold which has had
all that is not pure taken away from it by fire. [3.8] When we have
this, Jesus will no longer think that we are poor.
2. Then we are to buy white clothes from Jesus,
to cover us so that we will no longer feel shame when He looks at
us.
We have seen that the sheep around Laodicea had
black wool, and the clothes that were made in the city were made from
it. The clothes we need to cover our shame when Jesus looks at us are
not made on earth. They are made in heaven.
The things, which the doctors at Laodicea had
found were good for eyes - alum, copper and zinc perhaps - were made
up into balls and called 'Phyrgian powders'. These seem to have been
sold in many places in the Roman Empire. But it would be no good to
rub these on their eyes. They would still not be able to see Jesus if
they did. They must have 'salve' or 'ointment' from Jesus. They must
rub that on their eyes if they are to see Him.
We need to know that Jesus does love us. Verse
19 tells us how we may know this. First Jesus will 'rebuke' us. If we
do what is wrong, He will tell us about it. Then He will treat us just
as a good father will treat his son. He will correct us. So we are to
be 'earnest' or 'zealous'. What Jesus says is: - 'Be hot!' You are lukewarm,
getting colder. Instead of this we must 'be hot'. The Gospel fire must
touch us. We must change the way that we think.
When we come to verse 20, I think that we have
a picture of what happened when John visited the city. Probably John
spent several days in the home of one of the Christians. Probably he
was a rich, proud man. John did not feel comfortable; it was not easy
for him. John was poor and far from proud. When they heard a knock on
the door, the Jewish Christian said: 'It is only some poor trader, trying
to sell his bits and pieces from door to door. It will not be the Roman
police. I know the Christians in some cities have trouble with them,
but we pay the Jewish tax and we have no more trouble. Or it may be
an important Roman. You know, when they travel they have the right to
go to a house and to say that they want to stay there. You cannot say
“no” to them. And of course, they always go to the best house that they
can find. I often get them here.' John thought 'I cannot feel Jesus
with me here in this house. He is outside. He wants to come in, but
why should He? He is not really wanted by these people'.
So Jesus knocked at the door, as a stranger would.
He also called out as a friend would, because the man of the house called
himself a Christian. But Jesus is still the trader from heaven, as He
was in verse 18, with God's good things to sell to us.
A rich man in those days might feed many poor
people, but he would be too proud to eat with them. He would eat alone.
Perhaps John knew what that was like. He did not have his meal with
the rich Christian. He was sent away to eat with the servants or slaves.
This was rude, but John would be more comfortable with them.
Jesus says that we do not have to wait for all
the church to agree. Any one of us can say: - 'Jesus is not here with
us. He is outside. I can hear Him. He knocks and calls out. Christ outside
will do no good. He must come in. Open the door to Him'.
And Jesus says that when He comes in, He will
not be in a hurry. He will take time to eat a meal with us. There will
be plenty of time for us to talk with Him. He will not be too proud
to eat with us now. And perhaps the end of verse 20 is the promise that
Jesus will share a meal with us here in this life; and then in glory,
He will not be too proud to have poor sinners like us at table to eat
a meal with Him. [3.9]. Jesus is not a beggar who looks for food and
shelter.
f. Jesus gives a promise (verses 21,22)
Jesus gives a promise (verse 21) to those who
win the fight. For the Christians in Laodicea the fight was against
cold hearts, which grew colder all the time. It was against pride. It
was a fight against the love of money. It was a fight against the feeling
that only the things which money could buy mattered.
A 'throne' in those days was not just a grand
chair for someone who was very important to sit in. It was wide enough
for several people to sit in side by side. If the king or someone important
sat in the middle, the people on either side could talk to him. They
could talk quietly and other people would not hear. (This is what Psalm
25:14 is about.) So it was an honour to sit on the 'throne' but it was
very useful too to be able to talk like that. The rich men of Laodicea
who became kings would be too proud to let the Christians sit with them.
But Jesus is not. He won the fight with sin, death and hell on the cross,
and now He sits with God His Father. When we have won the fight and
we have finished our work, then He will allow us to sit with Him in
His 'throne'.
We have said rather a lot about these first three
chapters, and it is time to go on to Chapter 4. We have heard about 'thrones'
in 3:21. In 4:2 John sees God's 'throne'. The last verses of each of the
seven letters tell us to hear. In 4:1 John looks and sees. In 3:20 there
is a door on earth, which is shut against the Lord Jesus. In 4:1 there
is a door in heaven, which is open to John.
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