When I referenced my essay on the Laodicean Church a couple of weeks ago, Jochanaan said, "Well, I'm interested, Daniel!" So here it is, however I've edited out some unneccassary stuff of what was required for the class.
Revelation 3:14-18 (KJV)
"And 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; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
The Laodicean Church was a Christian community established in the ancient city of Laodicea (on the Lycus river, in the Roman province of Asia Minor, current day Turkey)
The city of Laodicea was founded in 250 B.C. by antiochus II of Syria. The city was named after his wife Laodice who later poisoned him. The city was located on the main route between Ephesus & Syria. It was renowned for being a commercial & financial center, as well as being a great manufacturing center. Perhaps Laodicea was most noted for its great medical school: famous for the ointments which were used for eyes & ears. They took great pride in these ointments.
The Laodicean Church is the only Church out of the seven that the Lord had nothing good to say about. In verse 16 the church is called lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. They were not hot for the Lord, neither were they cold enough to relize that they were dead.
In verse 17 the Lord gives a point by point breakdown of what is wrong with the Laodicean Church.
1. They are wretched. The word used here refers to the condition of a person who is in bondage to sin.
2. They are miserable. They are in need of God's mercy - mercy that the context indicates they will not recieve.
3. They are poor. They do not have the fullness of the Holy Spirit that they claim to have.
4. They are blind. They don't really know the Lord, and can't see their true condition.
5. They are naked. Nakedness is a metaphor for being guilty of unconfessed, unrepented sin.
Instead of being seperate from the world, the Church of Laodicea appears to have embraced it.
There is some irony about what God said to the Church and what the city was known for.
The church in Laodicea (3:14-22) was closely related to its sister churches at Colossae and Hierapolis. It's spiritual condition was lukewarm- neither hot nor cold. Six miles north of the city were the thermal springs (not drinkable) at Hierapolis, whose white calcareous cliffs were visible in the distance. To obtain drinking water, the Romans built an aqueduct that ran five miles south to an abundant spring (now in Denizli). The cool spring water would become lukeware as it passed through the city.
The city was strategically located for trade and commerce, and became a leading banking center. It had accepted aid from Rome following earlier earthquakes. However, after the earthquake in 60 A.D. that devastated many Asian cities, only Laodicea refused to accept Roman financial assastance because she was so wealthy. This attitude of material self-satisfaction, "I am rich", had seemingly entered the church also. The church's spiritual blindness was ironic because a famous salve for treating eye disease was produced by the medical school there.
The exhortation to buy white garments to cover their shameful nakedness is another example of irony. For the believers were living in a city where the Romans had established textile factories to manufature clothing from the famous black wool of the region.
While researching for this essay I found out that some theologians said that each church also represented church ages, and we are currently in the Laodicean Age.
I agree, Daniel, that we are in the last of the church ages. "Christians" are condemning one another instead of being united in Christ. Christian unity, love, and acceptance are things of the past. My daily cry is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
I hesitate to embrace any one system of interpretation; I have not yet found any that take every prophecy into account. The most I can say is that the seven churches represent various archetypes of churches.
We can find churches today that look like any one of the seven. There are churches that look active and vital, like the Ephesus church, but in their hearts suffer a lack of love; there are ones (not so many in this country) that show great constancy under heavy persecution, like the Smyrna and Philadelphia churches; there are those who do good works but embrace sexual perversions or idolatry, like the Pergamos and Thyatira churches; those who are at the point of death, like the one in Sardis; and ones like the Laodicean church that are materially rich but spiritually lukewarm.
What I see as I look around Christendom is not exactly complacency, but rather a creeping division between "liberals" who genuinely struggle with whether Scriptural truths are still true and applicable, and "conservatives" who, meaning nothing but good, succumb to a legalistic worldview. And there are other divisions, such as "charismatic/Pentecostal" vs. "fundamentalist," "mainline" vs. "independent," and too many others.
It makes me wonder what happened to Jesus' and Paul's pleas for unity among the Church.
I fully agree with Dans article, and I have heard and read similar views on it. But I also agree that the seven churches are they type of churches throughout history that come and go. There are variations of these churches by congregations throughout the world.
St. Francis walked away, literally naked, from his church that was "rich and well dressed", much like the Laodiceans.
But if the belief that we are in the last age causes people to wake up, then by all means, wake up!
Our church is pentacostal and very active in a restorative ministry. We are located to the east of an area of lower income families both white and mexican. On the other three sides of this area, about fifteen square miles, are three baptist churches. While we all recognise a slight difference in some doctrinal points we agree on a calling of God to that area. With the combined efforts of four churches we are making a dent.
Daniel, What a wonderful scripture for an essay. I am glad you chose the KJV for your base. The earth shaking statement by God that He would that you be "very for Him", or "very against Him." God says fence straddlers make him sick. He has more respect for an declared enemy than someone who can't make up their mind. Good job.
Bearone
While researching for my essay on the Church of Laodicea, I ran across a study that explains how to tell if a church (or a person) is lukewarm. Again this is edited for pertinet information.
A lukewarm church or person is one that compromises with the world and resembles its surrounding society, professes Christianity, yet in reality is spiritually wretched and miserable. The Lord is disturbed when he is dealing with people He can neither use nor bless. They didn't oppose him but they didn't draw close to him either. Lukewarm people are not acceptable as followers.
1. They are only half commited to Christ. They stress ritual, ceremony and programs as a way to become acceptable to please God. Luke 9:23
2. They are only half commited to proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Son of God. 2 Timothy 4:2-4
3. They are only half committed to evangelism and missions. Matthew 28:19-20
4. They are only half commited to stressing holy and pure living for Christ. Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:16
5. They are only half commited to self denial and sacrificial living. Seldom stress that total sacrifice is demanded, that a person must give all he is and has to reach the lost and meet the desperate needs of the world. Mark 10:28, Luke 5:27-28, Luke 14:33
6. They are only half committed to the church. Hebrews 10:25
7. They are only half committed to attending and staying awake and learning in the services of the church. 1 Timothy 4:13, Hebrews 10:25, John 5:39
8. They are only half committed to supporting the church. 1 Corinthians 16:2
9. They are only half committed t witnessing.
10. They are only half committed to Bible study and prayer. 2 Timothy 2:15
11. They are only half committed to daily devotions.
Each of us may see one, two, or several areas where we are not fully committed in this list. But that doesn't neccessarily mean that we are luke warm. The idea behind this list is just to hilight areas of our walk that need improvement just so we don't fall into the lukewarm state. A lukewarm church or person will have over half of these failures attributed to them, and they won't beable to reconise any or very many of them in themselves but will be able to see the failures in others. The "I'm knocking you unconsious with the beam sticking out of my own eye as I try to remove the spec out of yours" syndrome.
