Revelation - Laodicea

Introduction to the City

If you traveled from Philadelphia, you would go 45 miles southeast to Laodicea.

Due to the fact that it was a city on a major trade route, the city was very wealthy.

Laodicea had two major drawbacks:

It, like Philadelphia, was prone to earthquakes.

It had no water supply.

Although it laid between two streams, They had to pipe water in from the south.

The city had grown fat and complacent, fine with what they had and who they were spiritually.

Address

Jesus describes himself in a manner that is about to contrast what He will say about the recipients. Jesus says that He is truth, and “he alone can be trusted to keep his word, unlike the Laodiceans.”

They were:

Not faithful

Not true to Christ

had a nonexistent witness

And lastly, Jesus is the beginning of God’s Creation. He is reminding them that though they are wealthy and think they are in control, He alone is in control of creation. He is the very source of their wealth and power.

Strength

Like Sardis’ letter, the statement that would normally be a compliment is instead a statement of irony.

*Discussion about lukewarm*

Laodicea had no water supply of its own. It was founded at the junction of trade routes not for its natural but for its commercial and military advantages. When it piped in its water from the hot springs of Denizli (see the introduction to this letter), the water did not have enough time to cool in the aqueducts but arrived “lukewarm” (χλιαρός, chliaros). Even today, people in the area place the water in jars to cool. Porter (1987: 144–46) shows that passages from Herodotus and Xenophon indicate that it was the temperature as well as the minerals (see below) that made the water undrinkable. In this sense it is their barren works rather than their spirituality that is the focus, which fits the opening “I know your works.” Of course, there is no radical difference between the two, for its “deeds” showed its spiritual barrenness.

They were then useless to the Lord.

Osborne, G. R. (2002). Revelation (p. 205). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

They were then useless to the Lord.

They were failing to serve as a source of spiritual healing, nor were they a refreshing, life-giving ministry.

Problem and Solution

They thought their physical state equated to spiritual wealth. The wealth was not entirely the problem, but rather what it made them think about themselves.

The city didn’t see that they needed help from Rome, and the church failed to see the need for help from God.

The real problem: They had it too good.

Osborne, G. R. (2002). Revelation (p. 205). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

The church was like the city, believing that its material wealth connoted spiritual wealth.

The problem was, the city had no perceived need for help from Rome, and the church had no perceived need for help from God. Thus the exalted Christ sums up their spiritual dilemma: οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ταλαίπωρος καὶ ἐλεεινὸς καὶ πτωχὸς καὶ τυφλὸς καὶ γυμνός (ouk oidas hoti sy ei ho talaipōros kai eleeivos kai ptōchos kai typhlos kai gymnos, you do not realize that you are wretched and pitiful and poor and blind and naked). Note the preponderance of first-person singulars in their claims: “I am … I have … I have.” Their boastful pride and self-sufficiency rendered them “blind” to the truth. Their lack of “knowledge”16 led them to miss one essential truth, that they had no spiritual wealth whatsoever. With no external pressure from pagan (like Sardis) or Jewish (like Smyrna or Philadelphia) persecution, with no internal threat from heretical movements (like Ephesus, Pergamum, or Thyatira), they had succumbed to their own affluent lifestyle, and they did not even know it!

Osborne, G. R. (2002). Revelation (p. 207). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

The Lord is giving them time to repent. (v. 18-20)

Jesus says, “Your reward will be like my reward.” In other words, “Be Like Me!” (v. 21)

Osborne, G. R. (2002). Revelation (p. 205). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.