Laodicea: The Church that Needed Nothing

The Laodicean church is another example of the great contrast that can exist between the outward appearance and the inner spiritual realities of a congregation. Their outward material success and its accompanying, and boldly proclaimed, confidence was only a thin veneer hiding a miserable inner turmoil of short-sighted covetousness and false hope. They had begun to find their peace and sense of security in what their hands could touch. They were committing the highly offensive sin of finding assurance (physically and spiritually) in their rich material condition in the world while disregarding their spiritual poverty before God. Jesus uses the strongest terms to express His righteous disgust of a church investing its heart in the treasures of this world. (‘Lukewarm' does not mean ‘they were not that bad and not that good' but rather ‘worthless' and ‘repulsive.') Amazingly, Jesus reminds them that His harsh rebuke is to be understood as an overture of love and as a granting of opportunity to repent and find their true rest and confidence in Him. For those who overcome, Christ promises a share in the true and everlasting riches of His glorious reign.