This is the word of the Lord to the church of the Laodiceans, written by the hand of his servant John and delivered to the angel of that church for him to preach. It will do us good to understand the general idea of the seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor. These letters are written to the angel of each church, which refers to her minister. As such, the content of each letter not only applies to the angel himself, but also and especially he must receive this word from the mouth of the Lord, and he must preach the message to the church. After every letter to each of the seven churches are the words “he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev. 3:22). This must govern our understanding of the seven letters. While each letter is addressed to a specific church and congregation, nevertheless, each letter is applicable to the church of Jesus Christ in general. Never may the church say that she need not hear this word of God. It is always and ever “what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
We ask, then, what is the word of the Lord to the churches? What is the Spirit saying to the churches? What must we hear? We must hear the Lord’s counsel to the church. We must understand what it means that the Lord gives counsel. The term to counsel refers to one’s giving advice. The one who gives counsel has judged the facts of a matter; has his thoughts concerning what is right, true, and proper; and thus advises on the proper course of action. All this belongs to the meaning of “I counsel thee” (Rev. 3:18). It means that the Lord will express his own thoughts on the matter.
And it is not superfluous for us to notice the Lord’s credentials. He identifies himself as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). Here it is sufficient to notice that he is the Amen. The meaning of this is expressed in the words “the faithful and true witness.” To be the Amen means that he is the faithful and true witness. This implies two things. First, being the true witness, whatsoever he says is unquestionably true. He cannot but express the truth. In fact, the word of the Lord is true, even when it may not appear to be so. However, to express this in a better fashion: The word of the Lord is true, not man’s thoughts, opinions, and words on the matter, for man is ever the darkness in which the light shines, but he never comprehends the light. As such, the Lord is the only true witness. This leads right into the second implication: He is the faithful witness. This means that his witness is to be trusted absolutely.
Let us hear him, therefore, and we will hear the truth. We must first hear the description of the church of Laodicea. Concerning the church of Laodicea, the Lord says that she is nauseating to him. This is what it means when he says, “Thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:16). To describe that church, the Lord uses a picture, one that is readily apparent to us. Let us imagine that we have a hot cup of coffee. While the coffee is hot, it is pleasant. Its taste delights, and its heat invigorates. But as soon as the coffee loses its heat and becomes lukewarm, it is wholly disgusting. One finds that he cannot keep it in his mouth but immediately spits it out, and the rest of the coffee is soon to be discarded. The very thought of that lukewarm coffee is repulsive, and the thought of ingesting it makes one grimace.
Conversely, let us imagine that we have a cold can of pop, for the Lord says, “I would thou wert cold or hot” (Rev. 3:15). Well, the same idea is applied here. The beverage is refreshing while it is cold, but after it has been left in the hot sun and warms up, it is revolting to the mouth. It quenches not. It satisfies not. It appeals not. If taken into the mouth, it quickly exits, and the rest is swiftly thrown out. Now such is the picture the Lord uses to describe the church of Laodicea. She is lukewarm; she is revolting, fit only to be thrown up.
And this is the Lord’s attitude and view of the church. To the Lord she is nauseating. This, however, is not her own view of herself. About herself she says, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17). This is not to be explained in earthly terms, as though she were saying about herself that she has more than enough money and much earthly substance (even if that may be true). Rather, she is giving the spiritual account of herself, and these three things are really one and the same. She gives a threefold estimation of herself, and each builds off the other.
First, she says that she is rich. This means that she views herself as good, even abundantly so. This is her ethical worth in her own eyes. She is quite virtuous. To will and to do of God’s pleasure is firmly within her grasp. She is quite capable of righteousness and holiness. She is wise and full of understanding. The word “rich” is used in the same sense as in Ephesians 2:4, where the apostle says of God that he “is rich in mercy.” The church of Laodicea, however, applies this wealth of goodness and virtue to herself.
Quite naturally, it follows that, second, she says about herself that she is “increased with goods.” The meaning is that so far as what is needed for salvation, she readily finds it in herself. Such is her self-estimation. Being rich, she is increased with all good. Faith, conversion, justification, sanctification, perseverance, and whatever else are all within her power to do, and in fact, she avails herself mightily in all these. In fact, that phrase carries the meaning that so full of goods is she, that she has something to spare. The same word that denotes “increased with goods” is used in 2 Corinthians 8:9, where the apostle says, “Yet for your sakes he [our Lord Jesus Christ] became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (emphasis added).
Third, it is a fitting conclusion, therefore, that Laodicea says about herself that she is in “need of nothing.” This word “nothing” can mean both nothing or no one. In Revelation 3:17 both meanings are implied. Needing nothing, she needs no one. Needing no one, she needs nothing. Her view of salvation is that it depends on her, and she is capable of doing whatever is necessary for her salvation. We could rephrase this with more familiar terms. What does it sound like when one is spiritually full of himself, as is the church of Laodicea? It sounds like this: There is that which man must do to be saved. There are vital acts that man must perform before receiving the blessings of salvation.
To be more concrete, God cannot and may not forgive until a man repents. Laodicea’s view is not that she is entirely dependent upon God because she cannot do the good, will not do the good, and cannot will to do the good because she can do nothing of herself, because she can do nothing but increase her debt before God. Oh, on the contrary. She needs not God. God needs her. God needs her activity. God needs her will. God needs her to fulfill vital prerequisites. We can call the church of Laodicea today Protestant Reformed. Of this there is no question. The same sound heard in Laodicea is the same sound in the Protestant Reformed Churches today, only some two millennia later.
And how nauseating is that sound to the Lord! Such doctrine turns the stomach of God. Such doctrine is repulsive and vile. That is because God tastes man, not Jesus Christ, in that doctrine. It is repulsive because God tastes the corruption of man and does not taste the riches of God and his goodness. And how contrary is that doctrine to the truth of the matter! Hear what the Lord says to the church of Laodicea. She does not know that she is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17). That is the opposite of what she says about herself.
What is it to be wretched? It is to be afflicted by sin. The only other time the word is used in the New Testament is in Romans 7:24, where the apostle Paul says, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” To be wretched is to be infected with the hereditary disease of our first parents. It is to have what the apostle calls “the body of this death.” This means that man’s nature is dead and dying in every possible sense. His nature is spiritually dead, so that there is not merely no good in it, but positively his nature is wholly evil, contrary to God, and contrary to righteousness and holiness. Man’s nature is dead with the torments of guilt and condemnation. Man’s nature is eternally subject to the worm that dies not and to the fire that is not quenched, and temporally there is already the beginning of this with God’s testimony in the plagued conscience of man. Finally, man’s nature is physically dead and dying, so that man is ever dying, which is a constant reminder that he is the sinner. “Thou art wretched,” says the Lord.
And Laodicea is miserable too. That word means to be pitied. This is understood in the light of the fact that she is wretched. She is helpless, the object of pity, not the object of glorying. She is nothing and has nothing. She is not rich but wretched and miserable, afflicted, and to be pitied. She has no excellency, no glory, no goodness, and no hope.
Very naturally she is called “poor” as well. We know what that means. She is a beggar. Far is she from riches; she is in rags. Far is she from being increased with goods with much to spare and to give to others; she is the beggar. She is in fact wholly devoid of spiritual wealth; she must receive every scrap of good from another. She is a charity case.
The Lord speaks well, then, when he says that she is blind. We do no injustice to the text or to the word if we understand it as meaning delusional. Can it be otherwise? How else can she, being wretched, miserable, poor, and naked, say, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”? Her delusion is the beggar boasting of his wealth, the dying patient his health, the dolt his understanding. So wretched, so miserable, is she that she cannot even see her misery, let alone know where to look for deliverance.
And it does not get any better when the Lord finally tells Laodicea that she is naked. Her shame is uncovered and exposed for all to see. This is a fitting last description of her. This is the spiritual reality for her—she is naked. Her sin is exposed. Her sin is uncovered. Her shame is laid bare. She is guilty, having no covering of righteousness. And can she purchase a covering? Can she perhaps make one for herself? Oh, but it is worse—she is blind. She knows not even that she is wretched, miserable, poor, and naked. Yea, more, she glories in her shame, for her wretchedness is riches; her poverty is increase; her blindness is sight; and her nakedness is her covering.
How nauseating is this self-righteousness and foolish boasting! How nauseating is the doctrine of what man must do to be saved! How nauseating is the doctrine that makes man something when he is nothing! Yea, more, that glories in man, man’s will, and man’s deeds, which are his shame, being defiled with sin!
Let us hear the thoughts of the faithful and true witness. “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” (Rev. 3:18). The verse uses the picture of a marketplace. That is literally the meaning of the verb “buy.” It means to go to the market. The command in the verse is to go to the market. And what sort of market is this? It is the marketplace of Jesus Christ, for he says, “Buy of me.” This simply means that all the wares of salvation are in Christ.
It is, therefore, a rather unique market. It is not the Arminian marketplace. The way of the market is not the price of will and deed, for such has no purchasing power in this market. Rather, it is the emporium of grace. Christ says that first: “Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.” The gold tried in the fire refers to the treasures of Christ’s satisfaction and obedience tried in the fires of God’s strictest justice and holiness at the cross. This means that Christ’s righteousness is the only wealth in all the world, speaking now of the wealth that purchases salvation. It is the righteousness of Christ alone that makes one rich. This is the truth of the matter.
And when Christ says, “Buy of me gold tried in the fire,” this means believe! We can put that in other words: Do nothing! Throw out your own “gold,” which is but dross. It is worthless; yea, it is condemnable. Come with nothing, for man has nothing. In Christ alone is the wealth of righteousness. “Buy of me,” says the Lord. The same idea is expressed in Isaiah 55:1: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (emphasis added).
The “white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear” refers to the covering of man’s shame of sin and guilt. “I have the white raiment,” says the Lord. “You will find no covering for sin in all the world, nowhere but in me.” This refers back to the perfect satisfaction and obedience of Jesus Christ on the cross—this is the white raiment that covers guilt and shame and arrays in justification, life, and glory.
Buy of me! Believe! You cannot find that covering elsewhere. Shall you make it? Shall you make your raiment clean and white? Shall you find another vendor? Buy of me the white raiment. Away with the folly of justification by faith and works! Away with the way of the Arminian market; away with blessedness in the way of obedience! Buy of me gold tried in the fire, and buy the white raiment that covers your nakedness and hides your shame.
“Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Eye salve is ointment to treat an eye infection, so that one can again open his eyes and see. Well, the Lord prescribes to man spiritual eye salve. This is what man needs. His eyes must be opened. His eyes must be opened to the truth, so that they can see spiritual things spiritually. For how blind is man to his own condition! And how blind is man to the truth of salvation! He needs this eye salve.
But how impossible this is for man! Spiritually, man is always a blind leader of the blind. So blind is he that he believes that he sees. Have we not seen this throughout the passage? Only see what the church of Laodicea says about herself in unbelief compared to how the Lord describes her in truth. There you see that man is absolutely blind. Man cannot even seek a remedy for his blindness, for man deems himself to have perfect vision.
How impossible, then, is the whole text for man? How can he come to the market? How can he buy of Christ the gold tried in the fire, so that he might be rich? How can he buy of Christ the white raiment, so that he might be clothed and the shame of his nakedness covered? Well, that is certainly the point of Christ when he says, “Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve.” The point is that man can do nothing. Man cannot see spiritually unless his eyes are opened for him. Certainly, then, man cannot come in faith to the market of Jesus Christ and by faith appropriate Christ and his righteousness to himself. How impossible! It does not belong to man to see the kingdom of God or to come to Christ in faith. Neither the power nor the will belong to man. Man must be wholly saved by Christ Jesus and operated upon by the Holy Spirit of Christ.
“What is the proof,” you ask, “that this is the true meaning of ‘anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see’”? You must see Christ’s credentials again. Thus far we have only considered his name Amen, the faithful and true witness. We must also note that Christ calls himself “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). This does not refer to the fact that Christ is “the firstborn of every creature” (Col. 1:15). Rather, this is a reference to Christ as the Word of God. He is the Word of God that has a creative and an efficacious effect. He is the Word by which all things were created. The idea is found in Hebrews 1:2: “[God] hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (emphasis added). This idea is also found in John 1:3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
When the Lord speaks to the church of Laodicea, therefore, the same idea is being expressed. This word is a power, for it is Christ who speaks. This same idea is expressed in that similar passage in Isaiah 55:1. Let us note verses 10–11:
10. As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
What folly it is to say that the response depends on man! No, this word to the church of Laodicea that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord shall not return to him void. It shall have an effect. The effect is “that which I please.” That is simple. It is the good pleasure of God according to double predestination, that is, according to both election and reprobation. And I do not add at all to the scriptures when I say that. I know that Isaiah 55 speaks of the saving, life-giving power of the Word of God to the elect of God. Of course, this is true. When the Lord’s counsel comes to the elect, it has a saving effect. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). Their eyes are anointed by God with spiritual eye salve to see spiritual things spiritually, that is, to see that God’s is all the glory, as is revealed by Christ Jesus. And, too, when God says “buy of me,” then the elect are drawn by God, the fruit of which is that they come in true faith.
But this word never returns to the Lord void. It always has an effect on those who hear. And this word is preached promiscuously, but with many God is not well pleased. It is not his good pleasure to save them but to condemn them and to bring them into everlasting perdition. This pleasure of the Lord according to reprobation also takes place with this message. The counsel “buy of me,” which means that salvation is in Christ alone and by faith alone, is offensive to man in his blindness, to those whose eyes are not anointed with the eye salve, to those who are not drawn by the Father to Christ. And being offended, man rejects the word of life in hatred; and whenever he hears it, it only hardens him and makes him more guilty before God. God’s word never returns to him void.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). He who has an ear, let him depart from that nauseating church and buy of the Lord gold tried in the fire, so that he might be rich, and white raiment, so that he may be clothed, and that the shame of his nakedness does not appear, and anoint his eyes with eye salve, so that he may see.
6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (Isa. 55:6–8)
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