The Letter To The Lukewarm Church In Laodicea – Revelation

We move on to the seventh and final letter in Revelation.  The end of the road, as far as the delivery of the Revelation given to John along the path of these seven churches.  This time the letter is to the lukewarm church in Laodicea.  Jesus has no good things to say to this church.  Therefore, the examination will obviously be about what’s going wrong here.  What did they do, or not do?  How might they have achieved such good news from Jesus?  And what can we learn for us today, both for our churches and for us as individuals?

Once again, the title comes from the section title in the NKJV.  As with most of the churches, the title refers to the content of the letter.  Laodicea is the only one of the seven churches to receive only bad news.  Truly, this is a church we do not want to emulate.  Whether it be the church we attend or is as individuals, we do not want to be in that type of environment.

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Divine Knowledge – I wish you were either one or the other!

Lots of people prefer water to be either hot or cold.  I know I do.  But then there are many who prefer lukewarm water.  Maybe because it’s all they have, or because they actually do like it better.  For reasons like that, it’s important for us to understand what’s happening here.

Remember, Colossae had cold water that people liked to drink.  Hierapolis had natural hot springs, which people loved to bathe in.  But Laodicea had only lukewarm water, which had neither of the benefits of its two close neighboring cities.

In terms of the church in Laodicea being lukewarm, Jesus is saying that He prefers the church to be either very much seeking Him, or even against Him. 

That may seem surprising.  However, from experience, I can say that when we are angry at God, cold, we very much believe two things about Him.  First, we believe God exists.  Second, we believe that God has the power to do something about whatever the cause of our anger is.  I believe here Jesus is saying that, for example, a state of anger towards Him is preferable to a state of ambivalence.  Better than when we just plain don’t care.