By Roy E. Ciampa, Ph.D., S. Louis and Ann W. Armstrong
Professor of Religion, Samford University
Sufficient in Christ Alone
Revelation 3:14–22
Christ’s words to believers in Laodicea remind us of C.S. Lewis’ comments in “The Weight of Glory”: “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Turn from self-sufficiency. (14–17)
Laodicea was such a prosperous and self-sufficient city that after a devastating earthquake in A.D. 60, it paid for its own repairs rather than seeking help from Rome. The believers also thought of themselves as self-sufficient. They were prospering economically, due in part to their willingness to participate in idolatrous activities. They thought they were doing great, but they were actually in great need of repentance.
The church in the city was too similar to the city’s water, supplied by an extended aqueduct. By the time the water arrived, it was lukewarm and not the cool refreshing drink a visitor might have hoped for.
The works of the believers in that city were like that unpleasant water. Just as the water might make someone want to vomit, the Laodiceans’ works made Christ threaten to vomit them out. Their perceived self-sufficiency actually reflected their spiritual state of being “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
Rely on Christ, accept God’s loving discipline and repent. (18–19)
Jesus is the only one who can provide true wealth, which isn’t measured in material or economic terms but in spiritual terms. By repenting in response to Christ’s rebuke and seeking the true prosperity that only Christ can provide (metaphorically described as riches, clothing and healing ointment for the eyes), Christ’s loving rebuke and discipline will result in their restoration to full fellowship with the Lord.
Seek intimate fellowship with Christ. (20–22)
Earlier Christ had told the believers in Philadelphia that He had opened a door for them that only He could open and no one could possibly close. He and He alone can open the door to eternal fellowship with God and the blessings of His presence.
But there is a door that we can open or close, and God respects our freedom to open it or not. That is the door that Christ mentions in verse 20. To sit and eat together was a mark of or invitation to close fellowship and friendship, and Jesus suggests the believers in Laodicea have closed that door to Him. He seeks to restore that fellowship by “knocking at the door.” If only they will simply respond to His overture and choose fellowship with Him over the material advantages they have been seeking instead, they can know the joy of the fullness of His presence again.
As he has done previously, Christ refers to His intention to share His kingdom privileges with His disciples. In Revelation 2:10, He promised them a crown (which He also wears). In 2:26–28, He promised they would share in His authority over the nations. In 3:9, He promised that their enemies would bow at their feet. And now in 3:21, He promises that those who conquer (by being faithful to the very end, despite all opposition) would be given “the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”
Christ is the faithful witness to God’s truth and the source of creation (v. 14). He has all authority.
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying and not choose mud pies over such glory!
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