Laodicea

Revelation 3:14–22 “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 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. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

This final letter to the churches was to the Laodicean church. This is probably the most well known letter to the seven churches. This church was on a downward spiral that was not going to end well unless things changed. This church was at one time a vibrant church, full of energy and vigor, wanting to do things for Christ. However, over time, they had settled into a state of complacency. They still went through the motions of being a Christian. However, they were far from where they needed to be.

Christ tells them :

You are luke warm.

You say your rich but you are poor

Buy me gold tried in the fire.

Buy me white rainment

Anoint your eyes with eye salve.

All these were things readily available to them in the natural sense. This was a very rich industrius area. They were able to get gold, but not tried in the fire

They had all the riches but spiritually they were depriving themselves of the blessings of God

They had clothes but nothing to clothe them in the purity Christ offers to one and all

They had eye salve. After all, the they had a medical school there that produced eye salve to heal common eye issues of the middle east but Christ told them they needed spiritual eye salve.