Revelation 3:14-22 … The final one of the seven letters to seven churches is to Laodicea, perhaps the best known of the seven because it’s the lukewarm church, and may be the one that describes many churches today. Laodicea was part of a tri-city area composed of Colossae, Hieropolis, and Laodicea in central Turkey. Today, there’s nothing there except an archeological mound awaiting some future discovery, but in the first century it was a thriving commercial center, with a Christian presence in each community, surrounded by a pagan culture (not unlike many of our own towns, by the way). The letter has no commendation and the condemnation is vividly described. This quote from Unger’s Bible Dictionary says it all: “This church will have become so self-satisfied and worldly as to have ostracized Christ completely … the awful spiritual condition [is] so utterly nauseating to God that it calls forth one of the boldest figures used in the New Testament.” Revelation 3:16 in the NKJV says it this way, “… I will vomit you out of My mouth!”
Yet, the letter does have an encouragement (v.18), urging members of the church to appropriate the things of Christ. And the letter also has a well known promise, although many may not know that it’s from the promise to the church at Laodicea, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me” (v.20). That’s accompanied by a promise of everlasting life with Christ to those who overcome their lukewarmness (v.21). Those are the seven letters to seven churches (Revelation 2-3) and they are both rich in application and severe in warnings, with tremendous spiritual benefit to be gained from them.
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