In the letter to Laodicea, there is a rebuke about the state of the heart:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16).

This rebuke is to the Church, but a church is compromised of individuals. This diagnosis of our state is an individual diagnosis, and we much each individually heed the warning. Lukewarmness is an unacceptable state and will result in eternal loss. The state of lukewarmness must be remedied.

Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17).

Why are we lukewarm?

We are lukewarm because we believe we are rich and have the truth. We believe we are not deceived. Even among those who know that the truth rests on the twin pillars of obedience to God (the keeping of His commandments) and the faith in Jesus there is manifested a spirit of complacency, a false sense of security, and a lack of devotion and dedication to Christ.

The Jews made the mistake of trusting in their obedience to God’s law, rather than the merits of the Messiah, providing them with a façade of righteousness. The great bulk of Christians today trust in the merits of Christ without obedience to His precepts. This is just as dangerous. Although Christ’s robe of righteousness is offered freely to anyone who believes and confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, the next step is a fitness for heaven a submission to Christ’s refining work in our lives that changes us from the inside into new people.

The people of the remnant know this. Justification and sanctification are gifts from God through the merits of Jesus Christ. Obedience is a consequence of this abiding trust in Christ.

Why are we “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked?”

We are wretched because we are deceived. We are miserable because we think we are not deceived when we are, and are unhappy even while we persist in having our own way even though only God’s ways promise true joy. We are poor because we believe that we have embraced the truth when we have missed the boat.

We are blind because we think we are capable of discerning truth from error when we cannot. We are naked because we believe we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, when the garment we are wearing is a garment of our own making.

Professed Christians, like all people, must be called back to obedience to God. They must be urged to separate themselves from false religion and to uphold the principles of the law of God rather than accept the mark of the Beast.



Faith, Love, and Discernment

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Revelation 3:18).

The gold we are instructed to buy is the gold of faith and love that is devoid of self. The white raiment is the righteousness of Christ, a garment containing no stitch of our own making. The eyesalve is spiritual discernment that enables us to recognize where the problem lies with each of us. The message to Laodicea is intended to produce a change in each individual, not to produce discord among brothers.