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The following excerpt is from lesson 7 of the new Bible Study from RBP, Priority Mail: The Seven Churches of Revelation by Richard Van Heukelum. For ordering information, see the bottom of page 23.
Lukewarm Laodicea churches face the danger of disgusting the Lord
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ocated forty-five miles southeast of Philadelphia was a city named Laodicea. Situated in the fertile Lycus Valley of what was at one time southern Phrygia, Laodicea is thought to have been established by the Seleucid king Antiochus II (261–246 BC) and named after his wife, Laodice. The city was near the confluence of the Meander and Lycus Rivers and was located on an important trade route. It was a city noted for its carpets and cloths woven of rich, glossy black wool. In addition, it was noted for its medical school with its powders and eye salve. Finally, it was noted for its wealth. After an earthquake in AD 60 nearly destroyed the city, the inhabitants told those willing to help rebuild, “We have need of nothing.” Their response was rather pompous. All of these traits could be characteristic of other cities, but what made Laodicea particularly unique was its water. Located six miles south of Hierapolis with its hot springs and eleven miles north of Colosse with its cold springs, Laodicea had the distinction of being “Lukewarm Laodicea.” While many people visited Hierapolis for its healing hot springs, and those living in Colosse were thankful for their cold refreshing water, the citizens of Laodicea could only tolerate their lukewarm water until an aqueduct was built to bring in cold water. In this city of lukewarm water was a church. Perhaps established by Ephaphras (Colossians 1:7; 4:12, 13), the church was the one with which Paul asked the Colossians to share the letter he wrote to them.
The realization of lukewarmness (Revelation 3:14, 15) As with the church at Sardis, Christ had no positive comment for the church at Laodicea, yet He did not rebuke it for immorality, idolatry, or doctrinal error. Is your church free from immorality, idolatry, and doctrinal error? Does that mean Christ is pleased? Not far from the center of the state of Wyoming is the city of Thermopolis. It attracts a host of visitors purely because it is a city (polis) with a hot spring (thermo). You can easily imagine the joy of a waterslide fed by a hot spring. Not many miles away on the road toward the Tetons is a cold spring. Many stop to drink its refreshing waters. Now, imagine if you combined the hot waters of Thermopolis with the cold waters of a mountain spring. Would
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22 The Baptist Bulletin
Richard Van Heukelum
you want to drink that water? Would you want to swim in it? Christ found fault with the Laodiceans’ lukewarmness. The believers were neither hot nor cold, but were insipid like the waters of their own city. They lived daily with the realization of the disadvantage of being lukewarm, so Christ’s words must have struck a resounding chord. We often get bogged down wondering what Christ meant by the words “hot,” “cold,” and “lukewarm.” Do they have to do with who is saved? For example, does “hot” refer to true believers, “cold” refer to clear unbelievers, and “lukewarm” refer to those who profess yet do not possess Christ? Perhaps these terms have to do with the intensity of love for Christ in the believer. For example, the hot have a zeal for Christ; the cold are saved yet have lost all care for Christ; and the lukewarm are mediocre Christians. Or perhaps these terms fail to distinguish a person’s salvation or sanctification but simply address his or her spiritual attractiveness. For example, are the terms “hot” and “cold” used positively for desirable Christians—for opposite but equally valid reasons—while “lukewarm” describes disgusting saints? Whatever the meaning, the significance to Christ is that He disapproves of the lukewarm. Do you believe Christ would rate you as hot, cold, or lukewarm?
The reaction to lukewarmness (Revelation 3:16) The natural reaction to disgusting water is to spit it out. I can relate well to this natural revulsion. In 1981 I spent a year in Africa. One task was to siphon kerosene from a fifty-five gallon barrel to a smaller tank. Often in the process of sucking kerosene into the hose, I would not get the hose out of my mouth quickly enough, and some kerosene would enter my mouth. Spontaneously, I spit it out. It was repulsive. While it is startling to realize that lukewarmness catches the Savior’s attention, it is even more startling to realize His intense reaction to it: He wants to spit out lukewarm Christians. Like their own insipid waters, the lukewarm Laodiceans were disgusting— not to the unsaved or even to the saved, but to the “Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God,” Who could not tolerate them (v. 14). Why would Christ always be disgusted with lukewarmness? To unsaved people, lukewarm Christians are not disgusting,