is never a level of righteousness that we can attain where we can say that we have done it on our own. As soon as we begin to strive after internal righteousness without Christ, we will find ourselves on a path toward spiritual ruin and hypocrisy.
By his grace, Jesus exhorted the church to seek true riches, riches that have their source in him. Those true riches are gold refined in the fire so they can be truly wealthy—faith and perseverance. This is what makes us truly rich, not the worldly riches of a big house, fancy clothes, and gold rings; but the fiery furnace where we are melted into an eternal blaze of holiness in service to the Lord. In Job 23:10, Job said, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”152
Jesus also exhorted the church to seek after white garments to cover their shamefulness. In a land rich from textiles, Jesus knew what they needed—the righteousness of Christ. The shameful nakedness of Israel was pointed out in Isaiah 43:3, Ezekiel 16:36 and 23:29, and Nahum 3:5 in the context of idolatry. This possibly means that the Laodicean church was caught up in idolatrous practices as well. In fact, any time we prioritize something or someone other as more important than Jesus we are committing idolatry. In God’s sight, we are properly clothed only when we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
Lastly, Jesus exhorted them to buy salve for their spiritual blindness. Regardless of their medical schools, they were blind where it counted—spiritually. Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not be sight.” Unfortunately, for many churches around the world, it has become so easy to walk by sight, because we have the money, the doctors, and the clothes. We can claim sufficiency in our material resources more than others. But are we wealthy where it counts—in our hearts, in our love for Jesus, in our reliance on him?
Jesus called the church to repentance and to earnestness—to come to Jesus in repentance and then zealously continue in him as a daily practice. God disciplines those he loves. When we go through the refining fires of trial, it is because God loves us and knows that on the other end of the trial, we will be truly wealthy. Has the church been lukewarm, good for nothing in Christ’s kingdom, rather than hot or cold? We know that real spiritual fulfillment cannot be found there. It must be found in Jesus. That is why he invites the church to fellowship with him on a deeper and more intimate level.
It is interesting that the One who has a key to the door, as in Philadelphia, willingly stands at the door and waits to be let in. This is not a call to salvation, but to a greater level of fellowship.153 Jesus stands at the door and knocks. He wants us to open the door of our stubborn hearts and allow him to give us his wealth and his riches—the wealth of sweet fellowship with him. He will dine with us and we with him. Osborne views this as a foretaste of the final messianic banquet (see Revelation 19:6–9; Luke 13:29; 22:29–30), saying, “The depth of sharing with Christ attained through spiritual growth of this kind anticipates the total unity to be achieved with God and Christ in eternity.”154
Conclusion
In most Asian cultures, the sharing of a common meal indicated a strong bond of affection and companionship. Jesus offers us that increased bond, that intimacy with him. What an act of unbelievable condescension by Christ! He actually requests permission to enter and re-establish fellowship, a fellowship that is broken off by our self-sufficiency and pride. He does not break the door down. He does not force his way in or go through the window. He waits for us to answer the door. He waits for us to open it. And not only is this just an invitation to fellowship with a dear Friend, it is an invitation to rule with the King.
What will Jesus find of us? Will he find us hot or cold, useful for his kingdom? Will he find us seeking after the wealth of righteousness rather than the wealth of the world, which corrupts and will fade away? Will he find us finding our fulfillment solely in him?
Bryan Chapell tells a story in his book, Holiness by Grace, about his wife and kids. He writes,
Several years ago my wife, Kathy, and a friend gathered up the kids and made a trip to the St. Louis Zoo. A new attraction had just opened called “Big Cat Country,” which took the lions and tigers out of their cages and allowed them to roam in large enclosures. Visitors observed the cats by walking on elevated skyways above the habitats. As my wife and her friend took the children up one of the skyway ramps, a blanket became entangled in the wheel of the friend’s stroller. Kathy knelt to help untangle the wheel while our boys—ages three and five—went ahead. When next she looked up, Kathy discovered that the boys had innocently walked right through a child-sized gap in the fencing and had climbed up on the rocks some twenty feet above the lion pen. They had been told that they would be able to look down on the lions, and they were doing just that from their hazardous vantage point. Pointing to the lions below, they called back to their mother, ‘Hey, Mom, we can see them.’ They had no concept of how much danger they were in. Kathy saw immediately. But now what could she do? If she screamed, she might startle the boys perched precariously above the lions. The gap in the fence was too small for her to get through. So she knelt down, spread out her arms, and said, ‘Boys, come get a hug.’ They came running for the love that saved them from danger greater than they perceived. 155
When the church loses its focus of Christ being its sufficiency, of Christ being the only protection, the church is living life very dangerously. Jesus is knocking at the door. Like the mother who spread out her arms to her boys, Jesus is knocking and hoping we will answer, and get out of the danger into his safe arms. The church must answer the door!
143. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 122.
144. Aune, Revelation 1–5, 249.
145. See also Isaiah 43:10–12. Isaiah 65:16 and Revelation 3:14 are the only two passages where “Amen” is a name. See Beale, The Book of Revelation, 299.
146. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John, 65.
147. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 301. Osborne (Osborne, Revelation, 205) also believes that arche should be understood here as “source” or “origin.”
148. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 298.
149. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 123.
150. Luke 5:31.
151. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 126.
152. See also Proverbs 27:21, Malachi 3:2–3, and Zechariah13:9.
153. Cf. Johnson, Hebrews through Revelation, 459, who believes that the invitation of Jesus is more evangelistic than admonitory because the Laodiceans were not really Christians. After all, Jesus was going to spit them from his mouth. I think, however, that Jesus is speaking to the church in general, as a church body, rather than to individuals in the church. Certainly, there were some who truly believed in him.
154.
