Revelation 3:14-18

November 24, 2019

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts at 13:40 in the audio file.

Or, On Not Making Jesus Nauseated

Here is the final message of the seven Jesus sent to the churches in Revelation 2-3. The message to the Laodiceans in verses 14-22 may be the most well-known due to a couple striking images. The message is severe, with no commendation for the church, to the point that they are making Jesus sick. And yet, I think I might also call this the most hopeful of all the messages. Jesus disciplines those He loves, He doesn’t leave them in their sin. He offers the truest riches, the clearest sight, the best counsel, the closest fellowship, and the highest throne.

Let us hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The Beginning Amen (verse 14)

Three more titles apply to Jesus as He addresses the guardian angel of the church in Laodicea. It has been quite a list of identifications so far. He is the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp stands (2:1), the first and the last, who died and came to life (2:8), the one who has the sharp two-edges sword (2:12), the one who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze (2:18), the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars (3:1), and He is the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David (3:7).

Amen is a common word in the Bible, original to Hebrew, borrowed/transliterated into Greek, then borrowed/transliterated int Latin, and now borrowed/transliterated into English. Usually it comes as an affirmation, a finishing assent, though Jesus often began parts of His teaching with “Amen, amen,” or as the KJV, “Verily, verily.” Nowhere else in Scripture is Amen used as a title. But Jesus says that He is The Amen, The one who ratifies. He is “The Let It Be So.”

Jesus is the faithful and true witness. More than a reminder that He doesn’t lie, we are compelled to hear Him testify to the reality of things. He knows and can be relied on to speak to how it is, which the Laodiceans were lacking.

And Jesus is the beginning of God’s creation. The key Greek word is arche (ἀρχὴ), only used elsewhere about Jesus in Colossians 1:15. That’s interesting to note because Paul connected Colosse with Laodicea in his epistle to the Colossians. He had never been to either city (Colossians 2:1), but he wrote a letter to each of them and then wanted the churches to exchange and read each other’s (Colossians 4:16).

In Colossians 1:18 Jesus is “the beginning (arche), the firstborn from the dead,” the one from whom and through whom and to whom are all things in creation (Colossians 1:15-17). Arche is the beginning (ESV, NASB), but beginning as in the “Originator” (HCSB), “source” or “origin” (Osborne). Things get their start in Him, hence He is the “ruler” (NIV). One dictionary includes as a definition, “a point at which two surfaces or lines meet, corner,” so Jesus is the convergence point, but everything goes out from Him.

This is quite a resume of titles as to why He should be heard.

Spiritual Temperature (verses 15-16)

Jesus speaks to what He knows about the condition of the church. Usually when He refers to the “works” of a church He’s about to affirm some good before diagnosing what needs fixing. It doesn’t take long before realizing there is nothing positive to see here.

Three times in verses 15-16 we get the pair: cold/hot. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. You are…neither hot nor cold. What they are instead is sickening. The word Jesus chose is lukewarm, they were tepid. It makes Jesus nauseated.

They weren’t what He wished they were, which is what? What do hot and cold refer to?

There is a familiarity with being cold that makes us think it is spiritually negative. We have a cultural history of talking about warmth and heat as signs of vigor, kindness, sincerity, and health. We keep cold as a reference for things/pe[...]